Fairy Tail-The Ultimate Dragonslayer
by Fuse Bomber
Summary: After the disbandment of Fairy Tail Natsu and Lucy set off with Happy to bring the guild back together. After they bring the guild all back together they find a new friend, will they be the help everyone's been looking for in order to take down the fearsome threats that await them? And who really is this new 'friend' they've made and what are the secrets he holds?
1. The Journey

One the war against Acnologia and Mard Gear was over, Natsu and Happy went off training but they didn't know Makarov had dispanded the guild and told them to go their separate ways. Once Natsu and Happy returned they were shocked about this news, Lucy decided to let them sleep at her place.

Present day

Natsu yawned as it woke up and groaned, "Morning Lucy, escaping those guards wasn't as easy as we thought, they were as fast as most animals."

"Well it was your stupid idea to burn our emblem onto the palace, anyways who are we finding first?" Lucy said angrily.

"Were visiting the old fool who disbanded our guild in the first place."

"How do you know where he lives?"

"During the night when I was burning our emblem onto the palace, I overheard the princes who was on the balcony."

"What did she say then?"

Flashback

She said, "It sure is shocking news that Fairy Tail disbanded over the year Natsu was gone, I don't know why I never found out about this but I do hope Natsu is fine since this would be terrible news to get back with." The princess said to her servent.

"Then you wouldn't mind helping me out Natsu interrupted?"

"When did you get here Natsu and why are you on our roof?"

"I'm here because I want Fairy Tail back, honestly when I got back I was frozen in fear, I thought to myself, how could this happen? The answer was right in front of me, it was my fault the guild disbanded, it would be a normal peaceful guild if it wasn't for me, I caused so many problems in the guild and I caused gramps the stress he felt. I hate to live with that feeling and I want us to be a family again but first I need to see Makarov and then I will fix the guild. Please princess, please help me find Makarov." Natsu pleaded.

"What you just said was all so touching to me but you don't always have to blame yourself, if it wasn't for you most people in the guild wouldn't be here now, you saved Erza from the tower of heaven, you destroyed the gate that the dragons came out of and defeated the future version of Rouge, you also defeated Zero. For all the times you have saved us from living in eternal darkness, I will help you."

Natsu wrapped his arms around the princess and started squirting tears, "th-th-thank you so very much." Natsu stuttered.

"If you wish to find Makarov he is in Estalia, his house is by the big city, he's the only person living in a one floor house so it shouldn't be far."

"How far away is it?"

"If you walk it should be two days' worth of walking."

"I'll never forget your kindness princess, I'll be going now, thanks for your help." Natsu sprinted off back to Lucy and plotted a root to Estalia then fell asleep halfway through.

"What you actually had a conversation with the princess and got away with it?"

"Oh is somebody jealous Lucy." Happy chanted.

"Shut it cat! Where have you been all this time anyway?"

"Just eating fish."

"You didn't thing to spare any for us?"

"That's happy for ya, right let's get going." Natsu ordered.


	2. Darkness from within

"Are we there yet?" Happy muttered for the 100th time.

"Of course were not there yet we've only been walking for 10 hours."

"Can't you just carry us there?" Lucy asked.

"I could carry Natsu but your too heavy for me to lift." Happy said with a grin.

"I'm going to kill you just watch me."

"That's if you could catch me but I'm too fast considering your size but it would be a good way to lose some weight wouldn't it." He said with an even bigger grin.

"Ugg, shut it you two, now I know why Erza hates it when me and Gray fight."

"Try not to alert too much wildlife because were about to pass through the forest, the last thing we want is a bunch of wildlife or even monsters chasing us through the forest."

Natsu and the others passed through the forest, there were trees everywhere which covered the sky above them, wildlife was running about chasing it's pray until…

SNAP!

A tree fell down, someone else was in the forest with them but were they friendly or were they a foe?

"Hey!" Natsu shouted out.

"I can see darkness within you, it creeps in your soul, slowly taking over your body, it's my job to take out wizards who have evil inside of them, those with darkness must be killed." A mysterious voice called.

"Show yourself!" Natsu shouted.

A tall man with a metal mask and a glowing, yellow sword stepped in front of them.

"So you're not a wizard?" Natsu questioned.

"No, I'm stronger than one."

"Is that a challenge?" Natsu asked.

"No, it's a threat."

"Well bring it on!"

Natsu lunged at him but the man stuck his hand out and stopped Natsu in his tracks, the man swung his sword towards Natsu but he dodged just in time and Natsu shouted, "Fire dragon iron fist!" So he launched the man in the air and then shouted, "Fire dragon roar!" He burnt the man to a crisp.

"Fight over already?"

"No it's just starting." He suddenly appeared behind Natsu and his body looked perfectly fine. He grabbed Natsu and pierced his sword strait through his chest, inches away from his heart. Natsu cried in pain.

Lucy and Happy shouted Natsu and tried to run over to Natsu but a magical barrier blocked the way.

"I will end your life here and now; this is more like mercy; I am just freeing the darkness within you."

"Ha ha." Natsu laughed at the face of the masked man.

"What is so funny about your inevitable death?"

"You haven't won yet."

The man had a confused look in his eyes and Natsu jumped up and uppercutted the man, grabbed his sword and sliced off his mask in one stroke, the man feared his identity being revealed.

"Hey, always pay attention in battle."

The man looked up to see Natsu charge at him and shout.

"Fire dragon iron fist!"

"Checkmate." Natsu muttered.

He punched the man strait in the face which sent him flying far away from them.

The barrier between them disappeared and Natsu fell on his back.

All he heard was, "Natsu!" Before he fainted.


	3. The Truth

Natsu woke up as he was staring into the night sky above him, he looked down at his chest to see his stomach wrapped up in bandages, he took a small look underneath the bandages, his wound was the size that Lily had got in Edolas but a bit thinner.

Natsu thought in his head, "I know it was you Igneel, you gave me the strength to live on through that battle, thank you."

Natsu suddenly heard a voice in his, "I will always lend you my strength Natsu you must live on and fight for what you want, I didn't keep you alive, you wanted to win the battle and you made that happen."

"You really are a wise person." Natsu thought.

"Go on Natsu, find you friends, fight for what you want.

"I will, for you…"

Natsu leaned up and saw Lucy and Happy sitting by a fire they made.

"Natsu will be alright?" Lucy said worriedly.

"He's a real fighter, he'll be alright." Happy said to calm Lucy.

Before Natsu could say anything his vision started to blur, he stopped himself from passing out and managed to get up.

"Hey, cheer up! "Natsu said in a cheerful voice.

"Natsu!" both Lucy and Happy said.

Lucy ran up to Natsu and squeezed him with a giant hug.

"Not too tight please!" He said in a squeaky voice.

"Let's get going!"

The next day they managed to reach Estalia

"Finally!" Happy screamed with excitement.

"Hear it is Estalia!"

"Time to pay the old fool a visit."

"Aye sir!" happy said.

As they crossed through the town there was many people full with excitement wondering what they should buy for theirselfs. All Happy and Natsu wanted was food, each food store they past they stared at the window with their giant eyes focusing of whatever they could see.

"Time to move you two, we need to get to Makarov's house as soon as we can unless you want to wait longer to be with everyone else again."

"Fine were coming." They both groaned.

After a while of walking they finally found the small house that Makarov lives in. They all peered in the window to see if he was home and he was, he was laying on his chair asleep.

Natsu was ready to kick the door down but then Lucy stopped him. "What the hell are you doing Natsu?"

"Kicking down the door, what's the problem?"

"You can't just kick down his door we're in public!"

"Fine" Natsu opened the door and shut it behind them, as soon as the door closed Makarov woke up. Everyone had their arms crossed and was giving Makarov an angry look.

Makarov started shaking because he knew Natsu would be mad at him and if you were on Natsu's bad side you would regret it.

"Um, Natsu, Happy and Lucy, I'm going to regret this. So what brings you to my house?"

"Don't play dumb you know exactly why we're here you know what you did. I just don't get it! Why would you do this to us you know we cherished Fairy Tail we treated each other like we were family, so why did you abandon it? If you wanted to quit why not pass on your throne to Laxus or Erza?

"It's not as simple as that!"

"Then explain it to me!"

"Once you abandoned our guild I knew it would be time for us to part are own ways!"

"I never abandoned the guild!"

"Then why did you leave!"

"After the battle against Acnologia, Igneel died. I promised him that one I met Acnologia again, I would beat him. So me and happy left to train I know I should of said something to you but I wanted to surprise you with my power when I got back. You know I'd never leave Fairy Tail, that place is my home, you basically abandoned us and that hurt all of us. We had to part ways because of this I only found Lucy because I interrupted the grand magic games. You didn't disband the guild because I left so what's the truth."

"The true reason I disbanded Fairy Tail was that too many people got hurt during any time, any place and I couldn't deal with it anymore so I told everyone to part ways so then know one would get hurt again.

"In the guild whenever anyone was sad we comforted them, whenever anybody was hurt we aided them and whenever anyone needed help, we helped them. It's time to make amends gramps, it's time to put Fairy Tail back together."


	4. The New Dragonslayer

"I see, I can't believe I was so blind all this time, your right, it's time to put Fairy Tale back together, it's time for The Fairies Call."

"The Fairies Call?"

"Yes it's what I use to reunite everyone in the guild, they will all here a message from me which I will say now. Everyone I am so sorry for what I did, I separated all of you from who you love and care for and that is something I will never forgive myself for. You can thank Natsu, he helped me realise all of this. Natsu told me in the guild whenever anyone was sad we comforted them, when someone was hurt we aided them and when someone needed help we helped them. It's time for us to reunite everybody come back to Fairy Tail and we will fix our mistakes. I have to say thank you Natsu I am an idiot, disbanding our guild over a stupid thing you helped me realise my mistakes and so I also want to say sorry for everything I put you through, it must horrible also what happened to your chest?"

"This guy attacked me and stabbed me in the chest, after that I gave him a real beating he'll never forget."

"It's time we start going back, together. Sorry Natsu but we're taking a train, it's only five hours on train."

"This'll be the worst two hours of my life." Natsu groaned.

Later on they arrived at the station.

"Ugh I told you that would be the worst two hours of my life, I was sick twenty times in five hours, I was sick about every fifteen minutes."

"Won't deny that was a terrible experience." Makarov moaned.

"Oh my it's fixed, the guild hall, it is amazing but I thought it was destroyed." Makarov said in confusion.

"A person stepped out from the shadows, we heard Natsu went on a journey to reunite the guild members so we knew he'd be successful so we decided to fix it for ya."

"Thank you so very much!" Makarov said while shaking the person's hand furiously.

"Let's go inside gramps, back to our home."

When they entered it had know one inside but all the tables had been put back, the bar was fixed everything was perfect like it used to be. Makarov was on the verge of tears because of how happy he was.

"Pretty cool isn't it gramps."

"Aye sir!" happy shouted.

"Gramps you don't need to cry." Lucy said as she comforted him.

"Let's make it feel like home again, give our touch."

"When everyone gets back here, it will feel just at as was before we left, I'm guessing we have about three hours left before people start to get here so let's get some stuff and fill up the hall so when they come back it'll feel just like home for them as well. Let's go happy!"

"Aye sir, what shall we get them?" Happy asked.

"Just you wait."

A couple of hours later.

"Some people should be here round about now."

As soon as Natsu said now the first person walked around the corner.

"I think it'll be Erza." Natsu guess.

The person who walked around the corner was, Erza.

"Hello boys." She said as she walked around the corner, she wasn't in an angry mood like usual, she was in a happy mood you could tell by the massive smile on her face. Natsu ran up to Erza and gave her a giant hug and whispered.

"I missed you Erza."

"I missed you too Natsu, life isn't the same without you in it. Thanks for getting us all together again."

"Hey that's my thing." He said with a smile on his face.

Next was Gajeel.

"Salamander!"

"Iron head!"

"Life isn't as eventful if you're not in the Fairy Tail with Salamander."

"Same goes for you."

Hours later after everyone arrived.

"Let's party for our reunion thanks to Natsu!"

They partied for the rest of the day and night, by morning most people had a headache and left for bed.

Cana, Makarov, Gajeel, Wendy, Gray, Erza, Natsu, Happy and Carla were the only people who were fine.

"That's what they all get for partying too hard." Gray said.

"It's still chaotic with Natsu around though and I'm surprised Lucy was affected." Erza said.

They could all hear footsteps coming towards the guild hall, suddenly a person stepped around the corner with a bandana covering his mouth, he pulled it down and said, "Hello, I am a dragonslayer called Rycu and I would like to join Fairy Tail." Rycu said politely.

"Wait you a dragonslayer?!" Natsu shouted with his shocked face.

"You can certainly join our guild." Erza said.

"What type of dragonslayer are you?" Gajeel questioned.

"I am, The Ultimate Dragonslayer."

"I've never heard of that." Natsu said.

"A Ultimate Dragonslayer can use all dragonslayer elements and I can even combine them."

"Your joking right? What element do you eat?" Natsu said in confusion.

"I can eat any element that I wish."

"I want to fight you see who is better, I'm one of the strongest in the guild so if you beat me you are one of the top dogs."

"Natsu will get his ass handed to him." Gray chuckled.

"Challenge accepted."


	5. The Undeafeated

"This will be too good to watch." Gray said.

"Have some faith in me." Natsu pleaded.

Natsu charged at Rycu with all his force and shouted," Fire dragon Iron fist, Rycu shouted, iron dragon punch and knock Natsu back without even moving.

"You're a tuff one but I'll still win!" Natsu proclaimed. Natsu charged again and Rycu dodged behind him and shouted," Fire dragon wing attack which launched Natsu into the ceiling.

"I won't lose this fight! Dragon force!" Natsu shouted. He pulled eithnano out of his pocket and used to turn dragon force mode.

"If your using dragon force then so will I!" Rycu shouted. All of a sudden Rycu turned dragon force without eithernano.

"What he turned dragon force without eithernano, but that's impossible" everyone shouted.

"I'll teach you my trick after." Rycu launched at Natsu faster than Natsu could react to it and he grabbed Natsu and shoved his head into the floor.

Natsu pulled his head out but as soon as he did Rycu sent golden laser beams which launched him into the wall and then Rycu picked Natsu by his leg swung him around and launched him to the concrete ceiling.

"That wasn't even half my power, you should train in countering your enemies moves."

"That's immense power he wields; he took out Natsu like it was nothing I wonder how he would fair against gildarts." Erza explained.

Somebody call me? Oh is this a new member, hello what's your name?

"It's Rycu"

"I can see you had no problem against Natsu, maybe you would be a worthy opponent."

"We were actually wondering if you would fight Rycu." Erza asked.

"I don't see why not; I can see Cana got wasted by the alcohol again."

"Hi daddy." Cana said, she couldn't lift her head from the table.

"Hi sweety" Gildarts said in an innocent voice.

"Hey can someone get me down I want to see Rycu get destroyed." Natsu mumbled from the roof."

Makarov extended his arm and pulled Natsu down.

"Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Rycu launched at Gildards, shouting, "Fire dragon iron fist". Gildarts thought he had him but Rycu broke past Gildarts hand block and landed a hit on his head which made Gildarts fall backwards, Rycu suddenly appeared above and shouted, "Fire dragon wing attack" which also hit him and then Rycu shouted, "Dark dragon shadow," which made him disappear into the wall and Gildarts couldn't see him. Rycu was below him so Gildarts stomped on the floor but Rycu appeared in front of him and kicked him in the head.

At this moment everyone was shocked how Gildarts was losing to Rycu. "All right seems like I have to get serious now." Gildarts activated his final mode, he had a white, flame aura around him and his eyes were all red.

"Time for Dragon force I guess." Rycu activated his dragon force. Both Gildarts and Rycu launched at each other, ready to do the strongest punch they ever have to do.

Their fists collided in the air, a giant glowing light shined around them and then Rycu followed up with a kick to Gildarts leg and then Rycu shouted, "Fire dragon divine flames and attacked Gildarts when the smoke cleared Gildarts was in the floor and Rycu was on top.

Everyone's jaws dropped to the bottom of the floor, Natsu almost fainted of how blown away they was.

"I can't lie, that was an amazing fight." Rycu complimented.

"I-I-I Lost?"

"Wow you suck dad," Cana said.

"I can't believe you barely know Gildarts and you won," Natsu was in shock.

"I guess that means that Rycu is the strongest Fairy Tail wizard."

"That was a good fight to watch." Erza complimented as well.

I called Natsu losing but I didn't thing Gildarts would as well.

"I remember all the times I fought Gildarts but I've never come even close to winning," Natsu said in humiliation.

I have to go find somewhere to live, please could you put the Fairy Tail mark on my shoulder.

"Of course," Makarov said as he made the mark appear on his shoulder.

"I'll see you around sometime," and with that he was gone.

I guess we have a new strong wizard in Fairy Tail, maybe he wanted to join some time ago but we disbanded.


	6. Acrilla

"Hmm, I'm not sure about this house it's very small." Rycu complained.

"It looks perfectly fine to me." Natsu interrupted.

"What, when did you get here Natsu?"

"Just now, you said you was looking for a house so since your new to the guild I thought it would be good of me to help out a little, I can't decide what house you pick but I can help. Also since you're a Dragonslayer can you tell be about some other moves you have of your own and tell me about your dragon."

"My dragon was called Acrilla, just like every other dragon it disappeared but I never wanted him to go, I was born with different dragonslayer powers, I could use all the elements, Acrilla taught me to use all of them, every day he worked so hard to help me control my powers. When he disappeared it was the most heart breaking thing, when you work with a dragon like that for so much time you create an unbreakable bond with the dragon and you never want them to leave you and on the day he disappeared it was the most pain I ever have felt. From there in my life, I enhanced my magic power and I swore I would take down Acnologia someday."

"when we fought Acnologia we never saw your dragon"

"In a situation like that, your dragon appears if your there, I was never there even though it must have been a terrible experience I would have been glad to be there just to see Acrilla one last time."

"I promise you one day you will see Acrilla every dragonslayer will see their dragon again and even though Igneel is dead, he is always in my head, guiding me. Right let's look at another house for you."

In front of Natsu and Rycu was a two story house with lots of furniture nice views from windows, everything.

"How much does this cost?" Natsu asked.

"Twenty-five thousand jewel a month."

Natsu and Rycu were blown away.

"Let's see the house first" Rycu demanded.

"I can help you two, Wendy and Carla came round the corner."

"Why would you want to help these idiots find a house?"

"Excuse me?!" Natsu and Rycu said in sync.

"Rycu is a new member of the guild we should help him during his first days."

"Your help would be appreciated thank you, now if anything is wrong about this house just say."

A while later.

"There's mould everywhere."

"The pipes are blocked, so is the toilet."

"This food is rock hard."

"That's because it's fake food, you aren't supposed to eat it."

"Any food I should be able to eat!"

"Well that place was a let-down let's try the next one."

The next house was a two floor house in perfect condition that came with furniture."

"How much does this cost?" Natsu asked for a 2nd time.

"Fifty thousand jewel a month," the person replied

"Sounds like a bargain to me."

"It certainly sounds promising."

"Let's have another look." Wendy cheered.

"wow this house certainly is fit for you, everything is working, furniture is perfect and it's affordable." Natsu explained.

"I'll take it!" Rycu shouted.

Back at the guild hall.

I haven't taken a job request in a while, I think it's about time I do something, which one should I chose though, something I can go on with Gray, Natsu and I'll see if Rycu will join us.

"Hey guys were back!" Natsu shouted.

"Ah there you are, Rycu, would you like to go on a job with me Natsu and Gray?"

"I'd love to."

"Alright! Let's go, Rycu, you'll' love this with all of us on a team were unstoppable. What job is it?"

"All we have to do is kill monsters."

"Sounds easy as pie!"

"Do you even know what that means Natsu?" Gray questioned.

"No idea whatsoever."


	7. Ambush

"All we have to do is ambush the monsters on the count of three, one, two…

"Ahhh!" Natsu charged into battle recklessly.

"What are you doing Natsu?!"

"Getting the job done!"

"Screw the plan just attack."

All of them charged into battle all doing their unique attacks, Erza requiped into her heavens wheel armour and launched all of her swords into a wave of monsters who also charged recklessly towards her.

Gray made ice hammers and squishing the monsters till they were nothing but a flat balloon.

Natsu was making dazzling flames that burnt the monsters to a crisp. He used fire dragon iron fist to launch the monsters far away.

Rycu used all his dragonslayer elements, he burnt them with fire, blew them away with wind, smashed them with iron, blinded them with light and surprised them with hiding in the shadows.

Within seconds all the monsters were gone.

"That was too easy."

"Next time follow my strategy Natsu."

"time to go back I think, well after we get our reward, so let's go."

"I think I will go on another job, but I don't know about you." Erza stated.

"Nah me, Gray and Rycu are going to hang out in the guild hall for a bit, we have a lot of jewel left so it's time for a break."

Erza thought in her head "this is an easy job; all I have to do is burn a house that know one owns."

"Hey, did you hear all Jellal's charges have been dropped." Said a random member to his friend.

Erza thought again, "I don't need to think about him, I should do this job as soon as possible."

"See ya Erza." Natsu shouted to her before she left. Right, let's just walk around the city and talk for a bit.

"Yeah, I've done too many jobs today, how's the guild so far Rycu?" asked Gray.

"It's a nice friendly guild, I've made friends there surprisingly fast and your all cool to hang around."

"Good to know you like it."

"Remember when we first joined Fairy Tail Gray, it was so weird at first, when I first was here I used to hate Gray and Erza but now there two of my closest friends and some of the best I could have asked for."

"For me, when I got here, Natsu and Erza both wasn't here so it was boring at the start, then Erza joined and things started to get progressively better and since Natsu arrived there's never a dull moment, everyday something will happen, in Fairy Tail, every day is a special day for us and we cherish every moment of it."

"That sums it up about right, I'm looking forward to being with you and doing jobs with you, amazing memories await us you never know tomorrow could be awesome."

"It looks like it's starting to get dark so I might start going home now."

"Me and Gray are just going to hang out a bit longer but we'll catch you tomorrow."

"You know, was it just me or did Rycu seem a bit upset back then?"

"Well he hasn't seen his dragon for much more time than you and having a bond like he did with his dragon it's hard not being around him for so long.

"Today was my first day of Fairy Tail and it was amazing, nothing can ruin their relationship which is amazing I should try and become better friends with them… What's this? What's happened? How's this happened? No…


	8. Don't let go

"No…this can't be happening to me. Why is this happening to me I need to sit and relax, maybe Natsu and Gray could help me? At this late hour they most likely wouldn't be available. I don't even know were either of them live." Rycu sat next to the bridge his feet dangling over the water and an alleyway was just behind him."

Erza was walking down the alleyway and spotted him, "what's happened to Rycu? I'll go see. Just as Erza was about to go Natsu and Gray appeared so she peered around the corner with her pink puffy jacket.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Natsu asked.

"This may just be one of the worst days of my life, today had one of my greatest memories and one of my worst. I got to join Fairy Tail which is amazing but still this is terrible."

"What's the bad thing then?" Gray asked.

"Natsu there's something about that house I bought that I never told you.

"What is it?"

"That house was the house that I grew up in as a child, after Acrilla left, well someone today had burnt it to the ground till there was only ash and very few pieces of my childhood memories left."

Erza was shocked, "That house I burnt down was his? It can't be. What have I done.

"You've got to be kidding me, don't worry we'll find whoever did this and they'll pay for ruining a friend's life."

"Yeah, I'll beat them till there's nothing left of them!"

"There's one other thing there's someone in the guild I like I know it's only been one day and we have barely talked but…"

"Who is it?" They both squealed with excitement.

"You may think I'm crazy but, I like… Erza…"

Erza was shocked.

"I always thought you would be a perfect match."

"I kind of want you to go out, she can be angry and all but when you know her she can be amazing to be around."

"The problem is though, Erza likes Jellal, I have next to no chance of getting a girl like Erza if she already likes someone."

As Erza was about to look round the corner, someone grabbed her, covered her mouthand stabbed a sword through her chest just like what happened to Natsu.

"Wait I hear someone get stabbed," he looked around and pointed, "there" He suddenly teleported to the alley.

"Since when did he have teleportation abilities?!"

"He never told me!"

When Natsu and Gray looked down the alleyway they saw Erza impaled by a sword, but not dead. Natsu saw the man who was stabbing her, "That's the guy who stabbed me, that's the metal mask man.!"

Rycu was frozen in fear and all of a sudden his true power awoken. Rycu ran up to the masked man and shouted, "Let go of her!" As Rycu ran up to him, he punched his head against the wall grabbed the sword out of Erza's unconscious body and stabbed the man through the chest. "This is why you never mesas with us, take Erza to the guild I'll bring this guy because he has some questions to answer for.

Natsu and Gray lifted up Erza, Natsu covered erza's wound with his hand, "She has a worse wound than what I got last time, that guy must have more tricks than last time so I hope Rycu will be ok." Natsu said worriedly.

"Rycu will be fine we have to worry about Erza in the meantime, she's losing lots of blood." Gray said reassuringly.

"Natsu, Gray?" Erza said but he voice was nearly impossible to hear.

"Erza, hang in there we'll get Wendy and she'll help you."

"What happened to Rycu?" she said worriedly.

"He's fighting the metal faced guy who stabbed you, when he saw you being stabbed it awakened his true power what we saw against Gildarts was nothing compared to this power. Don't worry you should only worry that he doesn't bring him back in one piece.

"I'll always be able to count on the boys if anything happens."

"Erza stay with us we can't have you falling asleep on us, we need you! Don't fall asleep, if we lose you now I'll be mad as ever. Come on were almost there.

"Never give up trying Erza if I can take that hit you can take just as well as I could."

"There right I have to hold myself together, they need me now more than ever so hold it together. Don't…let…go…"


	9. Never give up

"You made a great mistake when you decided to attack a Fairy Tail member, when you mess with one of us you mess with all of us, this is consequence of hurting a friend."

"Don't lie you have only been in Fairy Tail for one day."

"My friend told me something, one-day means everything in Fairy Tale, each day we cherish it like it is our last. If it was one day to one year know matter what we always have a strong connection from the very beginning, that's what you don't understand."

"I don't care for anyone's lives that I make better or worse, I've spent too much of my time here because of you so let's get to the battle. Don't worry though, I'll make this quick and as painful as I can. Let's go!"

The man charged towards him, "lightening dragon roar!" when the smoke cleared he was laying on the floor. "I don't fall for tricks."

"Look out below!" The man jumped from the top of the building and tried to land on Rycu but he punched him back up to the top, Rycu then teleported to the rooftops were the man was waiting for a surprise attack. He was confused were he had disappeared to. "Look up!" The man looked up and Rycu punched strait across the place to the other set of rooftops.

"You've cause too much pain and suffering to be forgiven."

"Why would I ask for mercy off of you?!" He said angrily and while he was attacking Rycu. The man's attacks kept getting more and more aggressive each time he attacked but the more aggressive he was the more energy he wasted.

"I think it's time to pull my trump card." The man said with an evil look in his eyes. "Darkness of death!" The man started glowing purple. "All the sins you have committed will now turn against you, for every time you sinned you experience more and more pain and it makes my job a lot easier… why is nothing happening your supposed to be dying and experiencing pain."

A glowing white aura appeared around Rycu, "when you try to be the best person you can ever be and always admit to your wrongdoings you will have a pure soul, a pure soul is never attacked by sin because a pure soul always does the right thing, yes I have sinned through my life but I fixed my wrongdoings and made my soul pure again."

"Is that glowing light Rycu?" Asked Gray.

"I don't know but it's safe to say that Rycu is kicking his but."

"Do you realised back down in the alley I could have killed you then and there but I decided not to. I chose the right path."

"The sword," he thought in his head.

The masked man sprinted back down the alleyway and back up but he returned with his trustful sword. "I can't lose now, I have my sword with me, there is now way for you to win!"

The eyes of the man showed his cocky attitude, "With my sword I am impossible to hit!"

"Is that so."

Rycu sprinted towards the man and tried to punch with his left arm but the man gave him a big cut along his left arm. "Do you see now? You can't win."

"Throughout all my years I never once gave up a fight, if you expect me to give up you have another thing coming for you."

Rycu stood up, blood dripped from his left arm more than you would need for a bath. "Even if I was surrounded by thousands of you, I'd never give up and that's the point I'm trying to make, if you mess with someone care for I'll never stop getting up till you pay.

Rycu's energy was running low, so he couldn't keep up, the man cut him time after time but Rycu never gave up.

"I'm amazed how you've lasted this long you are standing in a puddle of you own blood, I'll end it now for you and slice your neck.

"No I can't give up, even though I have all these cuts, I have to find my inner strength, to finish this creep off."

"Remember… remember Rycu…"

"Acrilla! Your speeking to me?"

"why is he talking to himself?

"Your inner strength is in your heart."

"In my heart? Wait I understand…"

Ryku started glowing white once again.

"He looks like he got stronger but how?!"

Rycu launched at him, "This one is for Erza," he gave a giant punch across his face.

"This is for Acrilla," he punched him again.

"This is for Gray and Natsu," he gave a giant punch in the jaw.

"Most importantly, this…is…for…Fairy Tail!" He gave one last giant punch in his stomach and launched him into the wall.

"I told you you'd pay for this and now, you have to come with me."


	10. The Tower of Light and Dark

"You take Erza to the guild hall, I heard their fight end ages ago, he must o ran out of magic energy, I'll find him just keep Erza safe, we can't lose her." Gray explained.

"You boys really know how to put up a show." Erza groaned.

"Good, so your still with us, don't you even dare give up on me, Rycu beat that freak who stabbed you but Gray has gone to see what happened to them."

"I should get some sleep soon."

"Sorry Erza but you can't sleep until Wendy heals that wound."

"Show me your wound because I want to check something."

"Fine just to shut you up, there it's about the same size as yours. Yours probably hurts more because he had a sharper blade so it hurt more when he stabbed you or caused more blood to come out."

Natsu got to the guild hall doors and smashed them open and then shouted, "Wendy! We need you please help!"

"Yes what is it?" Natsu shows Erza's wound. "o my that looks like it hurt, here I'll heal her now. What happened?"

"Me, Gray and Rycu were sitting by the bridge talking because Rycu was upset because someone burnt his old home down with his memories. Then he hears someone being stabbed which was Erza this cause Rycu to unleash his full power and fought that guy we think he's hurt bad too. Gray has gone to find him but before he fought that guy he told us to bring Erza to you. I think if he arrived a few seconds later she would die because he started moving the blade about to damage more parts. Rycu said he's bringing the guy here to question him."

"right what happened now… oh my what happened."

"Long story, Rycu beat up the guy who did this and is bringing him here to question him."

"I see he has a lot to answer for, Rycu most likely will be hurt bad so we should sort our Erza quickly.

"Rycu, what happened?"

"I got hurt bad and then I brought the fight back and finished him. I could teleport us now."

"No we can't allow you to waste more magic energy."

"Is Erza ok?"

"Yes she made it back fine."

"I think I have enough magic energy."

"As long as you stay in one piece then fine."

Seconds later.

"Alright were here, Wendy we need your help!"

"Coming, I'll get started on fixing him up.

"So I'm guess that this is the person who attacked Erza?"

"Yes he is." Gray replied.

"So why did you attack Erza?"

"Natsu if you will."

"I'd love to get revenge on this punk."

"Fine, fine, fine. I attacked Erza because Jellal needs her as a sacrifice for the tower of heaven."

"But we destroyed the tower of heaven."

"There's more than one way to make it to the top, the tower of heaven was only one of the two ways to reach unlimited power, the other is called, The Tower of Light and Dark."

"I can look it up for you" Levy interrupted.

"Yes please Levy."

"It says here, The Tower of Light Dark is one of the two ways to gain unlimited power and life, like the tower of heaven it requires a sacrifice. But in the tower of light and dark the sacrifice must be killed on the day that the sun and moon align, the sacrifice can be killed at any time of the day."

"So they call it the tower of light and dark because the moon and sun have to align." Natsu asked.

"we have to alert the former council members about this it can't have anyone be sacrificed for this tower."

"I thought that Jellal was good now, he'd never just turn his back on someone that he cared for, something isn't right about this.

"Let's track down this stupid tower and destroy it for good just like last time!"

Natsu said fiercely, "This is the last time Jellal's gonna mess with Erza, this is the end of the line for him."


	11. Never forget

Erza woke up on one of the spare beds that they use for injured people, she looked at her stomach and the wound on her stomach felt fine and was covered up by a bandage just like Natsu. On the bed next to Erza was Rycu who seemed to be in some pain still. He had bandages around his arms, legs and stomach.

"Are you alright?" Erza asked Rycu.

"Yeah, I'm fine it just stings a little from all the places the metal freak cut me which is basically most of my body. It wasn't a great way to end off the day though, it felt like a series of unfortunate events."

"I need to tell you something." Erza said.

"What is it then?" Rycu asked.

"What happened to your house was my fault, someone forged a job request saying to burn down your house, at the time I didn't know it was your house because it was only the first day. In the description it said it was abandoned so I destroyed it like the job asked me to. I'm sorry I never knew." Erza said with guilt.

"It's ok, sometimes the past is best to be forgotten, if I stayed in the house it would be an upsetting experience because it would always remind me of Acrilla and keeping him in my head while I live there would affect my experiences, you basically freed me from what would of been the most painful years of my life. I should be thanking you."

"Well I should say thank you for saving me last night if it wasn't for you I would of most likely died or have been captured by that metal face."

"Family always has to protect family and now we're in the same family so we always have to have each other's backs and protect each other from harm."

"Hey!" Natsu stormed in the room, "your both awake."

"I don't feel much better." Rycu muttered.

"Also Erza you should stop copying me, now we both have stab wounds in the stomach from the same guy."

"Who fixed your wound then?" Erza asked Natsu.

"In my fight he tricked me and sneaked behind me and stabbed me straight through, as he was going on about freeing my darkness I got a hit on him grabbed his sword and hut off his mask he was shocked and I punched him away, I passed out from blood loss and when I woke up Lucy had bandaged the wound."

"He certainly loves attacking from behind."

"Yeah, my back still hurts from then but he can't torture anyone no more thanks to Rycu. Also what's happening, where will you live now?"

"I'm basically homeless as of now I guess I have to find some were to live."

"I know! You can live with me and happy, what do you say to that?"

"That sounds good to me!"

"Well that's one problem solved already." Erza said cheerfully.

"I guess I should update you on the situation. The reason why he tried to kidnap you was that Jellal needed a sacrifice for the tower of light and dark. The tower is like the tower of heaven, it's to gain eternal life and power. Just like the tower of heaven, it needs a sacrifice to active, the difference this time is that it can only be activated when the sun and moon align."

"that in two weeks , why would he capture me so there's two weeks for you to save me?"

"All we can think of is that the sacrifice needs preparation time, Rycu whenever you're ready come get me from the hall and we'll move your stuff to my house."

"I'd rather do it now than later I'm feeling a lot better than last night."

"Erza if you want me I'll be at my house most of today sorting out all Rycu's things."

"Right, let's go Natsu.

"Hi Erza!" said Lucy out of know where."

"Lucy, where did you come from?"

"I just got here after Natsu left you probably didn't notice me anyway does your stomach feel alright?"

"it feels just like Natsu's; it gives you back ache."

"I remember having to watch that person beat up Natsu and when he stabbed Natsu I felt so helpless. Healing it wasn't any better, I didn't know what to do to clean it because I had nothing and Natsu couldn't help me. Luckily we brought bandages to cover up the wound so that's all I could do."

"you tried your best to help him and he's still ok now so you still saved him, honestly when I was stabbed I felt helpless, I immediately passed out and all I could do was hope they could save me. When I woke up Natsu and Gray were carrying me to the guild hall and I couldn't move which made me feel worse. Rycu had to fight him and he ended up in lots of pain. Even though the boys can be idiots you can put your life in their hands and whatever the odds are of them winning are, they'll still save you."

At Natsu and Happy's house

"This is mine and Happy's home! Make yourself feel at home!"

"What's this?" He pointed to a board with hundreds of job request on them.

"These are all the jobs I've done it's good to keep memories sometimes."

"This scarf that I'm wearing right now is the scarf that my dad Igneel gave to me before he left, ever since then I wear this scarf at all times know matter what I'm doing, without this I'd have nothing to remember Igneel by. This is part of me now. Come outside it's getting dark so I want to show you something. From this hill, look at all the stars you can see.

"It looks amazing!" Rycu said in amazement.

"That's why I built my house here, me and Gildarts built it here so I could always view the night time sky. I think it's time we went to bed."

"Right let's go in."

Natsu and Rycu hopped in their beds and fell fast asleep.

"I need to see Natsu and Rycu," Erza thought. I need to ask them something.

Just as Erza approached Natsu's house…

BAM!

…It exploaded


	12. Flames of sorrow

It exploded in front of Erza's very eyes, "Natsu! Rycu! Are you still in there…" but there was no response, all that could be was the crinkling of the fire burning away all of Natsu's past memories.

"No… they aren't gone; they can't be gone." Erza's hair flickered in the wind and she remember back when Gray and Natsu used to fight, she always had to stop them and her hair would start to fly through the wind, she loved the feeling back then, when she had Natsu and Gray. "Why has this happened? Who did this? Who would take two innocent people's lives?

Gray came running up behind Erza, "what happened everyone could here that all the way from the city." Erza turned around as she gave Gray a giant hug.

"I think there gone…" Erza stuttered through her tears.

"They can't be, that's impossible, Natsu could survive an explosion twenty times as big as that, I refuse to believe he's dead."

Happy flew across the city to see what happened, "Hey why is there so much noise." Happy said before he cut off his sentence. "He's gone…who would take their best friend off the face of Earth."

"I think I found him…and he isn't breathing."

Lucy finally made it over, "what's happening you guys?" she looked up to see the ruins of what was Natsu and Happy's house. She rushed towards Happy, picked him up and hugged him tight.

Carla and Wendy also made it over, "hey what's happening?" She looked at the ruins and cried out tears, maybe I could revive him. She rushed over to Natsu's body and used her magic but it wasn't working.

Next over was Gajeel and Lily, "hey what's all the commotion." Like everyone else they looked at the ruins and even Gajeel felt a little sad, "I can't believe salamander is actually gone…"

Eventually most of the guild was by the ruins of Natsu's house all were crying out tears, then Makarov appeared and looked at both their body's. He picked up the head of Natsu and said, "terrible fate have you been met with, why would someone remove an innocent soul such as Natsu from the face of the Earth. Makarov cried out in tears, "we will miss you Natsu."

From up above in heavens, Natsu and Rycu were watching down on everyone if their tearful goodbye. "This can't be happening," Natsu cried out, "I never wanted to leave my friends, I want to be with the for the rest of my life, why can't I be with them, who struck us down and killed us, please let us live with them."

Natsu's face was dripping with tears, he couldn't believe it was happening, he was dead, now he was in the grasps of God. "I want to live again." He cried his last tears and then he heard a voice.

"Don't be afraid Natsu you and your friend will not stay dead but you will live here long enough to see your own funeral. Once you have seen what would happen you both will be sent back to earth and wake up where you lay now but for now you must see what will happen if you were to die now. When you are brought back don't speak of what has happened now, just reflect on what happens during and before your funeral."

Back at his house Erza was kneeling next to their body's crying out a puddle of tears, Gray went next to Erza and comforted her. "I will all be ok I know Natsu's looking down on us now he'd want you to be happy."

"Your right Natsu always wants to see a smile on every ones' face, I'll miss you, Natsu." Erza looked over to Rycu's body, "Without Rycu I wouldn't even be here today, he was only here for two days and he touch our hearts so very deep."

Gildarts walked over to Natsu's body, "I'll make the person pay who did this, that's what Natsu would do for us. He wouldn't stop until the person who did this payed."

"you can go on a hunt for that person after their funeral." Makarov explained.

Juvia came out and said, "I'll put the fire out with my water magic."

Erza said, "Me and Gray will take their body's." Then Erza picked up Rycu and Gray picked up Natsu's. Erza was looking down on Rycu's body, "you really were a brave person, I'll never forget you."

Day of the funeral.

"I can't believe their gone, such brave inspirational wizards." Erza said to herself. She was sitting next to Natsu's and Rycu's coffin. "You've saved my life many times so why couldn't I save yours, no matter how long you had you always saved me just before death. I'll miss you, Natsu Dragoneal."

Gray was looking into a mirror just staring at himself, all the times we fought, it was so much fun back then, we'd fight no-stop and then Erza would hit has until we were down for the count, all those memories, we can't make them again, "no without you it'll never be the same."

Gajeel was repeatedly punching a wall, Lily said, "Gajeel you should calm down a bit I understand how upsetting this is but your gonna bring the whole place down with you." Gajeel stopped punching, "Why did this have to happen, honestly I cared for Natsu enough so that he wouldn't die but it feels like I was just stabbed in the back."

Lucy was in her home with Happy, "I can't believe Natsu's gone, I've been with him since I was fist hatched." Happy said with tears rolling down his eyes. "It's hard to believe his gone I know I've known him the least amount of time other than, Gajeel, Wendy, Carla, Lily and Juvia but I wanted to spend more time with him and Rycu I never had enough time." Lucy explained.

When the time of the funeral came everyone was standing around Natsu and Rycu's grave, everyone was hugging up to each other, crying puddles of tears. In front of their graves were thousands of flowers everyone had bought for their grave.

From above Natsu was crying a puddle of his own tears he never wanted to see his friends like this he wouldn't let them be like this. "When I go back down to Earth I'll never let anything like this happen. I won't give up till the end of my life!"

"Natsu," Rycu said, "since we have the time I want to tell you something, if you want to protect your friends, then I should tell you how to activate dragon force without eithernano."

"Please do," Natsu pleaded.

"Every time you go dragon force with eithernano, parts of the eithernano are left in your body, so if you learn to use the magic power left in your stomach, you can activate the eithernano left inside you and it will allow you to go dragon force."

"Thanks a million, back to the funeral now."

Back at the funeral Makarov was standing in front of their graves, "These two warriors were people who we could idol of us, their bravery had no limits and they would never give up a fight no matter who they were against. Their bonds of friendship were unbreakable and still now they will always be with us and will put faith in us."

Erza couldn't hold it and she grabbed Gray and gave him a giant hug, Happy ran into Lucy's arms. Gajeel was about to walk away In tears but Levy grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her. Makarov was kneeling on the floor in tears.

Natsu couldn't bare to look at it any longer and he looked away squirting tears.

"Natsu," the deep voice called, "Natsu, it's time to go back…"


	13. Acnologia returns

Natsu closed his eyes, one second he was looking at his funeral the next he heard his friends crying their eyes out. Natsu opened up his eyes and he saw Erza crying on his body, he stuck his arm out felt Erza tears rolling down Erza's face. "Don't cry, please." Natsu asked. Erza looked up and saw Natsu staring at her with a smile across his face. "Natsu!" Erza cried with tears of joy and gave Natsu a hug which made him feel like he was being squeezed to death. "Please not so hard the explosion damaged my stomach.

"Hey I'm alive as well." Rycu moaned.

"O thank God your both fine." At this point everyone was rejoicing.

"Why's my vision so blurry everyone started saying?" All the dragonslayers were unaffected. Erza's body collapsed on Natsu."

"What the hells happening?" Gajeel asked.

"Something bad I'm guessing." Wendy replied.

"It's a potion that knocks everyone asleep except for the dragonslayers, it makes my job a lot easier."

"Who are you!" Gajeel demanded.

"I'm the human form of the one and only Acnologia. My wish is to eliminate all dragonslayers. Also I would like to wipe Fairy Tail from existence." He walked up to Erza and kicked her in the head, off of Natsu's body."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Natsu shouted.

"What are you going to do about it then?" Acnologia asked as he stood over Natsu's body.

"I'll make you pay!" Natsu attempted to uppercut him but he missed and Acnologia punched him into a wall.

"Hey if you want to mess with one of us, you have to mess with all of us at once!" Gajeel shouted.

"This'll be fun." Acnologia thought.

"Hey I still need to give you a beating for killing Igneel." Natsu threatened.

"Ripping him apart was fun."

Natsu charged at Acnologia but his attack was blocked they continued to block each other's attacks but Natsu was getting exhausted while Acnologia didn't sweat one bit.

Gajeel attacked from behind but Acnologia stared to block both their attacks, Wendy then charged into battle were she wing attacked Acnologia which blasted him away, Acnologia roared at Wendy and blasted her into the wall. He then punched Natsu and Gajeel and smashed their heads together.

"Already down to one dragonslayer?"

"Not yet!" Natsu and Gajeel both shouted as they uppercutted Acnologia which then they followed up by roaring at him.

"I didn't even feel a scratch." Acnologia stated.

"Well your gonna feel this Rycu charged at Acnologia and blasted him straight into a wall."

"Guess I underestimated your teamwork but still I'm not even trying so you better up game." He said with a grin on his face.

Wendy snuck up behind him and blasted him towards the three boys who all punched him at once and blasted Acnologia back again.

"I think it's my turn." Rycu said. He teleported behind him and knocked him off his feet which he then uppercutted to the sky and then smashed back down were Natsu and Gajeel blasted him back up again and Rycu charged at Acnologia and blasted him back into the floor.

"I almost felt that," Acnologia said as he got up but not a single scratch was on him.

"Are you serious we did all that and we didn't even hurt him!" Natsu shouted in amazement.

"I think it's my turn," Acnologia said. He charged at all four of them and launched them into the air which he then roared at them. He somehow got above them smashed them down into the ground."

"Look we've had our fun but it's about time that I end this then I can kill the others, anyway I thought you were dragonslayers so how come you can't kill me."

"The fight isn't over yet and I won't stay down until the day I die." Rycu said as he stood up.

"I will make that day today!"

Acnologia charged at Rycu but he blocked his attack and sent him back flying. "I'll never stop until I know my friends are safe."

"It's inevitable I will end the lives of you and your friends!"

"Not so fast, you're not laying a finger on them anymore." Natsu said as he stood up.

"To get to them you have to go through us." Wendy said as she stood up.

"I we won't give up the fight." Gajeel said.

"Oh really?" Acnolgia questioned. He picked up Erza's body and said, "I can kill Erza right now and what can you do?"

All the dragonslayers charged at Acnologia at once and shouted, "Let go of her now!"

As they swung at him all of a sudden something happened to Acnologia, "What's happening to me what is this felling?" He dropped Erza's body and looked at his hands, the were shaking with fear.

"What? Why do I have this feeling? Why am I afraid to attack, I can't help myself." Acnologia looked up behind the dragonslayers he saw a golden dragon. "All their dragons… their lending them there power…"

All the dragonslayers punched Acnologia at the same time with their most powerful punch and they all launched him halfway through the wall.

"I underestimated the power of a true dragonslayer, but never again, this fight isn't over yet I'll see all of you next time." Acnologia's cape dropped before he left.

"I might take this as a souvonier of us beating Acnologia." Natsu said.

"That was a tough battle but we never gave up didn't we." Wendy said

"Only problem is, is that we got battered by him and he's coming back another time." Gejeel said.

"Let's worry about the tower of light and dark first. There trying to capture Erza." Rycu said.

"You guys fought amazing I think that's a win for us." Natsu stated.

"We should try and wake up all the guild but can we sit down a sec. Gajeel said.

The affects of the spell had started to disappear.

"I'm guessing it'll be about an hour till it wears off so we should just hang out for a bit, but next time we see Acnologia I'm not going so easy on him."


	14. Shards of Light and Dark

"I think it's time for a well-deserved break, why do we never get rewards for this stuff?" Natsu asked.

"We're doing this voluntarily there isn't a job request for this." Gajeel explained.

"I think this'll be the most boring hour of my life." Natsu said.

The affects of the potion disappeared from Erza, she looked up and she saw the four dragonslayers. "N-Nastsu?" Erza stuttered.

"Are your awake!" Natsu shouted happily.

"What happened?" Erza asked as Natsu helped her up.

"Acnologia came and used a spell that put's everyone to sleep except dragonslayers. He said his mission was to kill all dragonslayers, so we had to fight him in his human form and we beat him up." Natsu explained.

"Just you four beat Acnologia in his human form?"

"Yeah but his dragon form is much more powerful than this."

"You four look like you got hurt bad?"

"We're fine, no broken bones just scars and bruises."

When everyone woke up they explained everything and people started going home.

"Hey Natsu are you coming?" asked Rycu.

"Yeah we need to go soon." Said Erza

"Sorry I'm just thinking about this house, I'll tell you and then you'll know."

Flashback

When I was a bit younger then I was now, I met Gildarts while we I about.

"Hey kiddo, I want to show you this amazing spot on a hill during night follow me." Gildarts brought Natsu to a high hill and during night you'd get the best view of the stars in the whole area.

"Hey! I should build my house here!"

"Aye sir!" Happy said.

"Sounds good to me, this is a good spot for a house, let's start building!" They were building non-stop for a couple of days until it was finished.

"Let's add the final piece Natsu!" Gildarts said.

"Yay! I have my own house, thanks Gildarts!"

"Your welcome kiddo."

Present

"I've been living in this house ever since; it sucks to see it go. I might start building it tomorrow." Natsu said.

"Well looks like it's time to go, where are you staying Natsu?"

"I won't go to sleep; I'm staying up all night to get the materials for my house."

"But your still injured you can't do that."

"I'll help you." Rycu offered.

"Thanks a million, see you tomorrow Erza."

Next day.

"Right so we have all the materials so let's start building!"

A couple hours later they finished the structure of the house and by the next few days it was finished.

"Right so now that our house is done I guess we should start to look some more stuff up about the tower of light and dark."

"Let's go to the guild hall and see if they found anything else about this stupid tower."

A few minutes later, "We're back is there any more information about this tower?"

Natsu asked.

Erza came out and said, "There hasn't been anything of the whereabouts of the tower but apparently Jellal was last spotted in Zenland city. I was actually going to see if you were going to come to find it."

"Of course we'll come!"

"Gray is coming as well." Erza explained.

At Zenland city, "keep your eyes open, all we need to do is find Jellal. Also we should find the shards for the tower."

"Sounds easy as pie!" Natsu shouted.

"How many times have I told you not to use that phrase." Gray muttered.

"Apparently a part for the tower is here, it's called the shard of darkness." Rycu explained.

"So there most likely a shard of light as well, apparently that's in Lanvil."

"So why didn't we split up?"

"That's what we are going to do since Lanvil is neighbouring this city. Me and Gray will search here, Rycu and Natsu will go to Lanvil."

"I'm happy with these teams, let's go, oh and I forgot to mention I brought happy. Hey happy can you fly us to Lanvil?"

"Aye sir! Rycu is much lighter than Lucy!"

"Don't let her hear that!" Natsu giggled.

"Right, Gray apparently the shard is in the castle at the top of the hill so most likely Jellal will be there as well.

"I see, I say we get there as fast as we can, so we can beat that guy to the shard."

"Happy, this is the place so drop us here."

"Apparently the light shard is underground which is kind of ironic, so we have to find some sort of way into the sewer, there maybe is an entrance through a construction area."

"This shouldn't take us long."

They passed through many roads but there was not a single area to the sewers.

"we've been walking for one hour!" Natsu complained.

"There has to be an entrance somewhere… look! Over there, that's an entrance to the sewers!"

"Finally! Let's try to get in unnoticed." Natsu screamed with excitement.

"Do you realise who is approaching us?" said a guard.

"No, who?" another guard replied.

"That's Erza scarlet! Were so dead." The other guard responded.

"Excuse me but we have the rights from the magic counsel to be on this property."

"Yes mam!" The guards responded.

"So we have to find the shard, most likely it'll be Inside the basement." Gray stated.

"To get to the basement we just have to go down these stairs and check all round." Erza said.

Erza and Gray walked downstairs and started checking everywhere for the shards, "I don't see it and we've almost checked the whole basement." Erza said worriedly.

"We'll find it don't worry about it." Gray said calmingly.

"Is this what you're looking for?" A man appeared out of nowhere, he wielded two double sided swords, "I don't intend on giving it away."

"I can feel a magical presence so we must be getting closer to it"." Rycu said.

"It stinks down here so I just want to get out as soon as possible." Natsu said as he was holding his nose."

"You need a shard you say?" said a mysterious voice. "I have the one you want but you're not leaving here with it or leaving here at all."

"So your challenging us to a fight?" Rycu asked.

"No I'm inviting you to your death."


	15. Swords of death

"Who are you?" Erza demanded.

"My name is Nashada, I know you are called Erza Scarlet and Gray Fullbuster."

"This'll be the last fight you'll ever have; you will die here by my hands!" said Nashada.

"I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you." Said Gray.

"Just watch me!" Nashada shouted as he charged into Gray, Gray brought up his shield but the man cut straight past it but Gray froze the tip of the blade in time.

Erza then sliced at Nashada and managed to cut him a bit but then he turned around grabbed Erza's left arm and twisted it almost breaking it. Gray pulled Nashada's arm off of Erza and swung him into a pillar.

"I'd never do that to a lady if I was you, unless you intend to get hurt!" Gray shouted. Nashada pulled out his other blade and sliced at Gray but Erza's other sword blocked it in time which then Erza managed to slice at the Nashada's stomach.

Gray made his two blades appear on his arms and attacked Nashada, blow after blow he blocked but then Erza sneaked up behind him and sliced his legs so he couldn't move as easily.

He turned around and came centimetres from cutting Erza's neck, Gray then smacked him in the head which made his vison a bit blurry and they had him at their mercy.

"Hand over the shard or it will get worse for you." Gray threatened.

"Never!" Nashada shouted as he grabbed both of them and threw them both into the wall and almost stubbed them but they both turned around to grab the sword and they pulled them off him and then Erza bent it and Gray froze it so now all he had was his bare hands to fight with.

"I still have more tricks up my sleeve you know." Nashada said and all of a sudden his hands started to glow yellow. Erza tried to cut his arm but he broke the sword in to two effortlessly.

"Guess we have to do this the old fashioned way." Erza said. Nashada was blocking off both Gray and Erza at the same time. Nashada landed a hit on Erza and pushed her back, her hand was glowing red and felt like she was just shot by a bullet.

Erza ran up to Nashada and punched him with her left arm but then followed up with her right and then there was no way for Nashada to recover. They hit him with blow after blow and he couldn't get up.

"We've had enough fun so let's end it." Gray said.

Erza and Gray swung at him and knocked him down to the floor.

"Give us your shard or there's more," Erza threatened.

"Fine, fine, fine, here's my shard just take it already!"

The shard was just a broken, purple glass shard that had lots of symbols printed onto it.

"I hope Natsu and Rycu are alright there most likely be another person at the other shard and knowing them, they always get it worse.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked.

"My name is wrektosauro."

"That's a pretty weird name," Natsu said.

"Shut that trap of yours," Wrektosauro stepped out of the shadows, he had two mace attached to his hands, "are we going to get on with the fight or are we going to stand here all day."

Natsu and Rycu charged at Wrektosauro but he swung his maces at both of them and they tripled in size, both of them got smashed against the wall with the mace.

"I think my ribs are broken and the spikes stabbed through my skin." Natsu squealed.

"Same here." Rycu squealed.

"Is that the all the fight that is in you?"

"Not even close." Rycu said as he pulled himself off the wall. Wrektosauro swung at Rycu but he deflected it back to her. Natsu then charged at him and punched him across the face, Rycu then followed it up by tripping him over and smashing his head into the floor.

He then turned the maces into swords and sliced at both of them which he managed to cut both of their arms, he then started attacking even more aggressively towards both of them and able to land the occasional hit.

Natsu and Rycu backed up and roared at him to make him fall back so they then stepped on his arms and legs so he couldn't move. "Give us your light shard that you have." Natsu demanded.

"Never!" he shouted and he changed the sword into guns and came inches off shooting both of them in the head. Natsu and Rycu backed up, Wrektosauro stood up and was shooting countless bullets at them, they managed to stop the bullets with their magic but their energy ran out… their guard dropped and were shot by tens of bullets.

"I guess the shows over then, it was fun while it lasted," Wrektosauro said.

"The shows not over yet, there's one more act to go." Natsu said.

As Natsu distracted Wrektosauro it gave Rycu time to activate dragon force. Rycu's eyes turned yellow and he launch at Wrektosauro as his scales grew on his arms and face. Natsu activated dragon force to and he launched at him.

They both punched him in the face to knock him back, then they both shouted, "Lightening fire dragon roar." Their roars collided and made it twice as big and it knocked out Wrektosauro cold. Natsu and Rycu almost fainted due to how much energy they used.

"Did you hear that?" Gray asked.

"Yes I did that was definitely Natsu and Rycu, we should find them quickly sounds like that was a very destructive spell."

Rycu stumbled towards his body and picked up the light shard.

"Time to go." Rycu said.

Natsu and Rycu stumbled along the path very slowly and covered their wound with a coat so no one would suspect anything was wrong. Eventually they made it out of the city where Erza and Gray found them.

"Did you get the shard?" Gray asked. Rycu pulled it out of his pocket.

"What happened to you to?" Erza asked.

"We fought a creep, he slammed us into the wall and broke are ribs, he shot us with tens of bullets and he made us waste all our magic energy so we had to use dragon force and then we used the lightning flame dragon roar attack so they combined and caused a giant mess in the sewers." Natsu explained.

"We should get you to Wendy, you have lots of broken bones and wounds." Gray said.

By the time they started moving both Natsu and Rycu fainted.

"Rycu, Natsu!" Gray and Erza called.

"We have to get there fast, their lives are at risk."


	16. A new challenger

When Natsu woke up he was staring at the ceiling, he looked down at his body and it was covered in so many bandages it made him look like a mummy. He wasn't in the guild though, when he looked around he saw he was in Lucy's house.

Rycu was next to him, he was already awake he was just scratching his back. They were laying on Lucy's bed as well. When he looked at the side of the bed Lucy, Erza and Gray were all sleeping on the floor.

Natsu tried to move but he let out a cry of pain which woke everyone up, "Natsu what's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"Sorry I was just trying to move but I didn't realise I was in such a bad state; you can go back to sleep."

"I should check your wounds anyway." Erza said. Erza got up and started checking each one.

"What happened to me?" asked Natsu.

"Both of you passed out, we took a vehicle back home but we couldn't carry you all the way, we saw Lucy and she was with Wendy on the way on she offered let you two stay here while you rested and Wendy healed your wounds. We were worried about you so we stayed."

"I want to try and get up." Erza helped to slowly get Natsu to stand up. "Maybe a few stretches will help." Natsu started to try some stretches but then he started feeling the pain again. "Maybe not the best idea."

"You should get back in bed."

"Sorry Erza but I can't stay back while the creep Jellal is trying to hunt you down." Natsu grabbed his scarf and put his jacket back on.

"I can't let you go and do this if you can't even stretch your muscles, if you was in my position you'd do the same thing."

"Alright but only for a couple more hours but then I'm going."

Some hours later Natsu woke up again.

"Alright now I'm going to find Jellal." Natsu said

"Then I'm coming with you Natsu." Erza said.

"I will as well." Rycu interrupted.

"As long as you both are fine I think we can go." Gray said.

"Your still here Gray?" Natsu asked.

"Of course, we're friends, I wouldn't leave till I knew you were fine."

"I'm coming with you this time Natsu isn't getting killed of my watch." Lucy said.

Everyone go ready and left for the guild hall. "Ah Natsu and Rycu, I heard about what happened yesterday are you sure you're alright?" Makarov asked.

"Well this is the best we're gonna feel in a long time so we don't really have a choice." Rycu explained.

"Do we know anything else about the tower's whereabouts?" Erza asked.

"Unfortunately we know nothing, it's best that we keep Erza safe over the one week that is left before the day that the tower will be activated, who has hold of the shards?"

"Me and Natsu have one each." Gray said.

"I see so they would have to get both of you to obtain the shards, smart move." Makarov complimented. "You still have work to do though, we found the location of some of the people who work for Jellal. Natsu, Erza and Rycu, you will all have to find and take down Dansi who is in Tumvile. Gray, Lucy and Happy, you have to take down a person who goes by the name of Gargoil."

"We're on it!" Lucy shouted with excitement.

A couple hours later and both groups had made it to their areas of their targets.

"Natsu, I want you to stay behind me, I can't have you getting hurt." Erza said.

"I can't have you getting hurt either Erza so I'll be upfront."

They were walking through the streets for quite some time, it was busy so it was hard to locate Dansi. As they were walking down the street Rycu noticed a masked person purposely looking and walking away from them.

The person knew that Rycu recognised him and he started to run away as fast as he could, pushing past everyone, Rycu teleported ahead of him and he grabbed him then pulled down his mask.

"I knew it was you…Dansi."

Natsu and Erza caught up to Rycu, "What this idiot right here is Dansi?"

Dansi pulled out a sword and attempted to cut Rycu but he managed to deflect it. By this point everyone in the street ran off because they knew something serious was happening between the two of them.

"Stand back Erza and Natsu I'll take down this person."

Suddenly Natsu and Rycu's started to have a massive headache and the vision was blurry, it made them fall to their knees in pain.

"What's happening?" Erza asked worriedly.

"While he wasn't looking I sprayed a potion that makes it so all drangonslayers around the area will have blurry vision and experience extreme pain."

Erza kneeled down and tried to help him but there was nothing that she could do.

For Gray and Lucy they hadn't found him get as well.

"We gotta find this Gargoil freak quickly."

As they were moving through the street they noticed an alleyway with a person down it staring at them.

"Hey! Who are you?" Gray asked. The man just walked into a door next to the alley.

"Lucy you stay here I'll handle whatever this freak is doing." Gray walked into the room the mysterious man also walked into. "I'm guessing your Gargoil?"

"Indeed I am, you have the shard of light so hand it over to me and this won't get ugly."

"No, chance! If a fight is what you want. A fight is what you get, I guess I'll have to beat you till you don't want to fight."


	17. Poison

"I will let your pathetic friends live as long as you give me the shard of light and you come with me." Dansi explained.

"Don't listen to him," Natsu said as he struggled to get up. "If you want Erza and this shard, you have to get through me first."

"Natsu, stand down your too weak to fight for now."

"I will never stand down even if the odds are against me." Natsu charge at the man be he grabbed Natsu and threw him into the wall.

"Natsu!" Erza screamed in fear as she saw Natsu struggle to even move.

"I'd leave him alone if I were you." Rycu whispered he activated his dragon force and all the pain disappeared and he pounced onto Dansi and repeatedly punched him as hard as he could.

Erza ran up to Natsu's body and shouted, "Natsu are you ok! Please answer me!" she could sense magical power rising in his body. "Natsu?" Erza whispered. Suddenly Natsu's eyes lit up a bright yellow which blinded Erza, Natsu's body rose up.

"Natsu, don't go into that fight, get out if here with the shard, I'll help Rycu escape." Erza pleaded.

"Move." Natsu said as he pushed her out of the way. Erza looked at him as he stormed into battle, she was afraid, afraid that they would get hurt again.

At this point the tables had been turned between Dansi and Rycu, Dansi was beating up Rycu against the wall but then Natsu charged into Dansi and knocked him to the floor." Never ever mess with one of us!"

A large smile came across Dansi's face, "You lose." Natsu's body became all weak and exhausted of magic power all of a sudden and Dania stood up. He lifted up Natsu's body, "you're such a fool, you should have realised that I sprayed a potion that exhausts all of your magic power." Natsu's body had bright, yellow, radiant beams coming out of his body as he screamed in pain, once his energy was wasted his body was lifeless like a ragdoll.

Dansi launched his body across the battlefield and it landed next to Erza. Her face looked traumatised and she shouted, "Natsu! Natsu! Please say something, please show me your still with me!"

"E-r-er-za," Natsu's voice stuttered.

"Natsu! Stay with me please!"

"I'm sorry Erza." Natsu reached out with his hand and wiped away her tears. "I told you before, please don't cry."

"I'm sorry Natsu but I can't help it, please don't give up on me, you can pull through this."

(Back at the guild hall)

"I can sense my children are in danger, Mirajane and Gajeel go to Erza's team. Help them, they need it." Makarov explained.

"For once Salamander needs my help, this'll be interesting." Gajeel said curiously.

(At the battle scene)

"You'll pay for doing that." Rycu threatened. He charged at Dansi but then Dansi pulled out his potion but Rycu teleported behind him and knocked the potion out of his hand and it smashed onto the floor. Dansi grabbed Rycu and laid him next to the potion and Rycu inhaled the chemicals as well.

"No!" Erza screamed. Dansi grabbed his body and threw it next to Erza. "Run, Erza." Natsu whispered. "If you run, I'll kill them." Dansi whispered. Erza's face flooded with tears, "If I come promise me you won't hurt them." Erza pleaded.

"I promise; I may be working for the wrong side but I would never break a promise." Dansi said.

"Then I'll come," Erza stood up and Dansi put a sleeping spell on Erza and then picked up the shard from Natsu's body.

"If you hurt her, then you'll pay." Natsu said.

"Goodbye, Natsu Dragoneal."

(At Gray's battle area)

"So I'm guessing you're Gargoil." Gray asked.

"Cut the talk let's just get to the fight." Gargoil said.

"Wow you like getting strait to the point." Gray made his ice blades appear on his hands. He dashed towards him and sliced at Gargoil but he didn't even flinch."

"So you want to play with blades?" He pulled out a sword from nowhere, it glowed yellow and it launched radiant beams towards Gray which Gray managed to dodge. When the beam hit the wall, it destroyed most of the brick wall.

"There's a lot more than that to come." Gargoil said.

"Surprise me then." Gray said. Within a millisecond Gargoil ended up behind him and blasted him forward, he did the same thing over and over again until Gray managed to counter the attack but by then he was already exhausted it felt like he had no power left within him.

"If you give me the shard now I'll allow you to leave here with no more cuts on your body." Gargoil said.

"Like in hell I would give up to the likes of you." Gray said.

"Fine then, but there will be no mercy." He dashed towards Gray and shoved his sword through his chest, "One last thing I didn't mention, I poisoned the blade." The sword let out a blast of poison that destroyed Gray's insides.

Gray was barely hanging on but he knew he couldn't let himself die. "I'll be taking this." Gargoil said as he pulled the shard out of Gray's pocket. "Now all the shards have been collected and our sacrifice captured, this is the end, for Fairy Tail.

Natsu could see straight above him, as he couldn't move.

"What a tragedy, is this the end of Natsu Dragoneal's story?" A voice called, it was Zeref who stood above him, "I know you will live brother, you were always strong. This isn't the last time we meet, we will meet again sometime soon, I can sense it." In the blink of an eye he disappeared.

"Natsu! Rycu! What on earth happened here?" Natsu heard Gajeel call out. "They took Erza and the shard." Natsu whispered. "We should get them to Wendy fast, all their magic energy disappeared and they've been beaten up." Mirajane said.

(At guild hall)

"Oh my, these brats will pay for hurting my children and for taking Erza away from us. My children, your safe now."

(At Gray's battleground)

"Gray's what happened?" Lucy called she looked down at his body and saw it was all green. "This isn't good"

"They took they shard." Gray whispered.

"Happy! Take Gray to guild hall as fast as possible!" Lucy demanded.

"Aye!" Happy shouted before he flew off.

(At guild hall)

"This is terrible, he's been stabbed and immensely poisoned, this means they have both shards and they have Erza, we only have four days to save Erza and our best warriors are down, maybe this is the end."


	18. Failure

"This is bad, Natsu and Rycu have lost all their magic it will take more than four days to replenish." Makarov said worriedly.

"Don't count us out yet!" said Natsu as he and Rycu came around the corner.

"Me neither!" Gray shouted as he came around the corner.

"My goodness how are you back to normal?" Makarov asked.

"Gajeel gave me and Natsu a pill from Edolas that restores magic power and Wendy healed all the poison in Gray's body and bandaged up the wound." Rycu explained.

"Erza's sent is still fresh in my nose so now we should be able to locate the tower and Erza." Natsu said.

"Mirajane and Gajeel, you go with them to the tower."

(At tower of light and dark)

Erza could see outside the window, the tower was in the middle of nowhere, all around them was endless sea. She knew they'd find her though, she never doubted it.

"Hello Erza." Jellal whispered. He felt his hand across her smooth skin. "I've missed you."

"Why are you doing this? I thought you changed into a good person?"

"I realised I'm destined for evil, when I found out there's another way to gain eternal life and power, I couldn't resist trying. In four days we will shatter the light and dark shards to turn it back into the shining blue tower it used to be, then we can fuse your immense magic power with the tower and gain which I fought so hard to get. No one can save you this time Erza, this is the end for you."

(In the sea)

On the boat, in the sea the five wizards were traveling across the sea, unfortunately three of them were motion sick.

"We're going to die out here!" Natsu screamed.

"I may be a strong wizard, but I think motion sickness is stronger." Rycu squealed.

"My insides are caving in." Gajeel complained.

"Guys get over it we need you for directions!" Gray shouted.

"That way!" They all pointed North.

"To be honest it is pretty worrying that we've been traveling for two days," Mirajane said.

"Hold on a sec, I think that's the tower." Gray pointed to a colossal tower in front of them.

"Yeah, Erza's sent is getting stronger." Natsu said.

"Let's get off this boat as soon as we can." Gajeel said. When they got next to the tower they could barely even pull themselves off of the boat.

"Right let's find Erza!" Rycu shouted as he flopped to the floor. The outside of the tower was heavily guarded but they took them on head on.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted. Everyone charged at the guards, Natsu and Rycu were burning all of the guards until they were nothing but a crisp left. Gray launched projectiles at the guards and they tore strait through them. Gajeel extended his arm and knocked everyone off the island by extending his arm. Mirajane used her satin's soul magic and she effortlessly wiped the floor with all of them.

"I think that settles this, let's get inside." Mirajane said.

When they walked inside the tower, there were doors everywhere, and there was about twenty floors.

"Most likely Erza's at the top so we better get moving fast." Natsu explained. "Do you think these are prison cells? Maybe this was also built by slaves." Gray said.

"As they were walking along the second floor they heard someone. "So you're here to save Erza Scarlet?" A mysterious voice called.

"Who are you? Gray demanded.

"My name is Chilva. You don't have enough time to reach your friend, they will be the sacrifice for the tower!"

"Not if I can help it!" Mirajane shouted "You guys move along; I'll take care of this one." Everyone else left but Mirajane stayed to fight. The person stepped out of the shadows, they had blades at the back of their led and along their arms. "Ready?"

Chilva dashed towards Mirajane but she blocked it, Chilva then froze Mira's arms together and hit her in the head, pushing them apart. She pulled the ice apart and dashed back in, she made it look like she would attack head on but at the last second she moved behind her and hit her forward. She did it again but she looped all the way around Mira and hit her again.

"I never knew you'd fall for the same trick twice." Mira said. Chilva charged at Mira and went above her but then she kicked Mira's back and punched her in the back, pushing her forward. She then froze Mira's body. "The ice you're frozen in is unbreakable, you'll be stuck there until I'm beaten.

The ice that was around Mira started to crack, "What? How are you breaking it?" She said in a panicking voice. The ice around Mira shattered and when you could see her again, she was in her second satin's soul form. She flew over to Chilva and dashed through her which scratched her body, she held onto her wound and as she looked up Mira punched her into the wall. She was no longer able to stand up, "You may as well end me now, I want no mercy, I'm a failure to Jellal, just end it or I'll do it myself."

"There's no need to do something like that, if you fail it doesn't mean you should end it, it means you should work harder to be the best you can. no matter what we all have times were we mess up, it's guaranteed to happen. You don't need to do it." Mira said softly.

"I'm sorry but that's not an option." She made an ice sword appear and used it to cut her neck. Mira was traumatised by the site of it, "Why? Why did you do this?"

"It seems as one of my warriors has fallen. They won't make it further than that." Jellal said.

"I told you, they'll save me." Erza said.

"It seems as Chilva is dead then, anyone who fails me must die."

"That's horrible, why would you do that?" Erza said shockingly.

"This isn't the same Jellal you use to know."


	19. Revenge

"What's that mean?" Erza asked."

"It means that I will show no mercy to anyone, if your friends somehow get up her, I will kill them with no hesitation." Jellal explained.

As the other four moved up the stairs Natsu noticed something on the walls, "Hey guys! Look at this, there's some sort of symbols draw on the wall." Natsu shouted. The symbols showed a man holding two shards in his hands and everyone beneath him was in shackles, carrying massive rocks. "What does that mean?" Gray asked. "I think it means whoever wields the shards of light and dark, has power over everyone, so let's hurry." Gajeel said.

They ran up a couple more stairs until they were encountered by another enemy. "So we meet again, ice boy." Gargoil said. "Right, you guys go ahead, I'll handle electro freak." Gray said. Once everyone else had gone Gargoil charged at Gray but Gray managed to avoid him. "It's not polite to attack before the battle starts!" Gray shouted as he smashed Gargoil's back and sliced at him with the blades on his hands.

"I see you've already improved since last time." Gargoil complimented, "looks like I can't go easy on you this time." He said as he pulled out his sword. He pounced at Gray but he managed to block it and send Gargoil flying back.

"You're starting to annoy me really bad!" Gargoil said. He changed his sword so now it was poison, "let's end this quick," he said with a giant smile on his face. He sliced at Gray and as it hit his ice shield, it made it immediately shatter. Gray thought, "I can't let him hit me or the ice sword, otherwise I'll have an even harder time against this guy."

Gray managed to dodge time after time until he eventually found an opening to attack and he sliced directly at his stomach which put him off. Gray then repeatedly hit him and it made him all bruised and cut. "One good hit and he'll be done for." Gray thought.

Gargoil then dropped his sword and started using his fists, "So you want a fist fight?" Gray said. Gray's blade disappeared and he started using his fists. Gray kept trying to land a punch but he couldn't, he kept on missing and receiving blow after blow.

"Starting to slack are we? Was that all the fight you had in ya?" Gargoil asked. Gargoil did a massive punch against Gray, but he blocked it and followed up by a punch in the face. "No, this is the strength in me that you never saw!" Gray grabbed both of Gargoil's arms and kicked his stomach as hard as he could to stun him. Gray wound up a massive punch, he ran up to Gargoil and did the hardest punch he'd ever done in his stomach.

Gargoil fell to the floor in agony, "I failed you Jellal, Gray please execute me." "What? Hell no I'm not a killer." "Then I'll do it myself," He pulled out his poison blade and stabbed himself through the heart. Gray was shocked, "What just happened?"

"Another of my allies has been defeated, now Gargoil is dead." Jellal said.

"Why do you do this to you allies?" Erza asked.

"It doesn't matter to you, I'm interested there's twenty minutes till your sacrifice will be made, I wonder I'll they'll make it on time."

"They will and they will make sure you pay." Erza said.

As the other three made up the next few steps of stairs they were encountered by the last of Jellal's puppets. "Hello again Natsu and Rycu." Said Dansi. "Oh this idiot grinded my gears last time." Natsu shouted. "No stupid potions this time!"

"Fine a promise no potions," he said. He took all of his potions and threw them away. Salamander and Rycu, start getting to the top and save Erza, there's a lot more to go. I'll handle this freak." Gajeel said.

"Aww Natsu said, I was looking forward to getting revenge." Natsu sulked off. Rycu and Natsu continued upstairs.

"Alright you freak; you are going to pay for what you did." Gajeel extended his arm and ran his body across the floor. When he got up he launched golden doves at Gajeel but they went straight through him. "Was that supposed to hurt?" Gajeel asked. "No, it makes it so you feel more pain." He sliced at Gajeel and cut a bit of his skin and it felt like he was just shot through the heart.

"So you want to play dirty?" Gajeel asked.

"Sorry but this is my job."

His sword shot out an entire laser beam hit Gajeel and it felt like he had been hit directly by a missile. "Alright your funs over," Gajeel roared at him which blasted him away and blocked his vision, Gajeel then came up to him, punched him in the face and slid his body along the floor.

Dansi launched more doves at him but Gajeel deflected three back at him so he would feel three times as much pain. "Dirty move." Dansi said. "What, it's my job." Gajeel responded.

He launched at Gajeel but he blocked his sword with his hands and punched him directly in the stomach with his other hand.

"I'm sick of you!" Dansi pounced at Gajeel at full speed.

"Not a smart move." Gajeel muttered. He ducked underneath Dansi and uppercut Dansi extremely hard. Dansi fell to the floor in agony and was holding his stomach but he wasn't done yet.

Dansi stood up and suddenly he had a yellow aura shining around him, he sent out thousands of golden doves at Gajeel, Gajeel shouted, "Iron dragon roar and they all deflected back at him, as the doves were absorbing into Dansi's body Gajeel jumped through all of the doves, from Dansi's view, Gajeel was jumping with at him with thousands of golden doves behind him. Gajeel punched him in the face, he punched so hard that it blasted Dansi through the entire tower.

"It seems that my whole army and warriors have been defeated." Jellal said.

"I told you they'd save me." Erza said.

"Sorry, but their out of time."


	20. Sacrifice

"It's time to destroy the shards of light and dark."

"Jellal please don't do this." Jellal just ignored Erza and he picked up the two shards, he smashed them together and a great light appeared in the sky. Suddenly laser, beamed down on the tower and everything changed. Everyone's went white for thirty seconds.

When everyone's vision re-appeared, the tower was like a giant blue diamond, "I don't get it, it looks just like the tower of heaven" Erza said. "It is mostly the same but the only difference is, is that you require the two shards, it needs to be the day of the eclipse and the best change is that I can I kill the sacrifice with my own hands and then put them in the container to fuse with the lacrima." He said with an evil smile.

All of a sudden Erza's hands were tied up again, because the explosion destroyed the shackles, also he feet were tied so now she was helpless.

"This is the end, Erza Scarlet, it's been nice knowing you but I have to do what I can to reach my dream." Suddenly he dropped the knife and he held his head looking as if he was in pain, "Erza! Please stop me I can't control my body!" He shouted, but then he switched back. "Anyways it's time to kill you." Jellal kneeled on Erza and lifted the knife back up, just as the knife was swung down something happened.

Rycu tackled Jellal so the knife missed Erza's heart but it was stabbed between the joint of Erza's arm. Natsu ran over and pulled the knife out of Erza and cut her ropes with it. "Erza stay away, this will get ugly." Natsu said.

"I should help you!" Erza shouted. "No you've been through enough." Natsu said.

Natsu and Rycu were stood in front of Jellal who had a big smile on his face. "You can certainly trust your friends to be here in the nick of time." He grabbed his head in pain again, "Natsu, Rycu, you have to stop me, I can't control myself." He switched back again.

"Wait so you're not doing this?" Natsu asked. "Ignore him Natsu, he isn't being controlled, he is doing this by choice, he pretended to act like he was being controlled to try and get sympathy." Erza explained.

"Wow Erza you catch on quickly." Jellal said. "Let's get to the fight, I haven't seen how strong you've grown Natsu so I want to fight you."

"No chance." Rycu said. Jellal pointed his hand at Rycu and a lightning bolt shot out at and hit Rycu and sent him flying which made him hit the wall.

"Rycu!" Erza screamed. She checked if he was alright but there was on response from him. Natsu looked over at Rycu's body and he saw Erza crying over his body.

Jellal kicked Natsu in the head but Natsu blocked it. "Didn't anyone tell you to never pull cheap shots also I've told you this once before, never, make, Erza, cry!" Natsu turned around and tried to punch Jellal in the face but Jellal caught his hand and launched him forward.

Natsu pulled himself out of the ground and turned around to punch Jellal but their fists collided, Natsu pushed Jellal back and knocked him onto the floor. He kneeled on Jellal's body and punched him in the face repeatedly saying, "What happened to you Jellal? You were always on about fighting for the right side. Look what you're doing now, you're doing evil." He finished off by shouting, "Lightening fire dragon iron first!" Causing them to fall through many floors.

Jellal teleported back up to the top where Erza was, he started walking towards Erza with a smile on his face, holding a knife. "I'm not done with you yet!" Natsu shouted as he sprung up back to the top. "You don't know when to quit, do you?" Jellal said.

"It's time for a boost." Jellal had a yellow aura start shining around him, Jellal gained a massive boost in speed and strength. Jellal was pouncing around the area like a wild cat pouncing on him faster than he could react.

Natsu thought, "How did I beat this guy last time?" It suddenly struck him. "My senses!" Natsu started to use his senses and he could predict where Jellal was going to attack, he managed to block all of Jellal's attacks and he eventually managed to counter it.

Natsu knocked back Jellal and then pounced on him like a tiger, Natsu threw him up in the air but then Jellal kicked him in the face to the floor and smashed him down. "I've had enough fun but I think it's time to end it." Jellal said.

Rycu finally woke up and he tried to stand up but fell back on the floor which made noise to alert Jellal and so Jellal started to come over. "Your seriously injured, you can't fight at all, please just stay down." Erza pleaded. "Sorry but that won't happen."

"This will be fun, killing a defenceless dragonslayer." Jellal said. He walked over to Rycu and kicked him in the head. "Why won't you stay down, there's nothing you can do." "But there is. There is always something to do, no matter what situation there's always something you can do."

Jellal threw a punch but Rycu blocked it. "I'll never stand down." Rycu's hands suddenly had golden flames and his eyes turned gold. "There's one other thing you forgot. Natsu!" Natsu threw a punch into Jellal's back which threw him forward and then Rycu uppercut him into the sky and they both jumped up.

"There's only way I can win." Jellal thought. He made a six-layer spell appear in the sky, this will make sure all their magic will be depleted. "Don't do it Jellal, please!" Erza shouted.

"I'm sorry, I started a mission and I intend to finish it."


	21. Zeref's cry

"Why aren't I using the spell? If I just do this than I can wipe them out and then I can gain the eternal life which I've worked so hard to do. So I'll kill them now!" Jellal used the spell and It struck down at the ground creating lots of smoke in the air. From the smoke though, Natsu and Rycu blasted out and shouted, "Lightening flame dragon roar!"

"But how?" Jellal thought. "How did they keep their magic energy?"

The two roars collided and became one, creating a giant laser beam of fire and lightening. That blasted directly at Jellal. Jellal made on final scream of pain before his body fell to the floor. When they landed back on the floor they gave Erza one of Gajeel's pills from Edolas and her magic energy was restored.

"What happened I thought you lost all your magic energy?" Erza asked. "We took some more of Gajeel's pills so when he used the spell, we took the pill." Rycu explained.

Erza looked over and saw Jellal's body on the floor. "She thought, "Amazing they managed to take out Jellal, without even using their dragon force, last time Natsu fought Jellal he used his dragon force."

A mysterious person started clapping for them, it was Zeref. "Hello, brother." Zeref said, "That was quite a battle you had there."

"Wait a second, if you're here that means… he is here as well."

"Indeed he is, he has some time till he gets here but not long. You'll be here to see for yourselves. I am afraid you can't leave until you beat me Natsu."

"You two will just have to watch your friends demise." Zeref said.

"Alright I'm all fired up now."

Natsu charged at Zeref and wound up a punch at him their fists collided in the air but the darkness overpowered Natsu's fire and it launched him back, smashing him into a wall.

"Come Natsu, use your full power, show me why you are a dragonslayer." Zeref said. Natsu charged at Zeref and punched him but it proved useless towards him.

"You'll have to do harder than that." Zeref said.

Natsu lunged at Zeref and kicked him in the head followed up by launching him in the sky. Zeref started floating in the sky and suddenly dark, grey clouds started swarming the sky and heavy rain started to fall.

"For as long as I'm alive, I will always bring darkness to those I pass, I have accepted my fate, I must be killed, to free my soul but I won't go down peacefully."

All of a sudden the rain changed, whenever it touched the skin it would make it sting. "This is what I mean, I always bring misfortune to those around me."

"You call this misfortune? I've seen people who have lost their homes and friends, people who have had it infinitely worse than this." Natsu said.

Natsu jumped up to Zeref and smashed him back to the floor but Zeref stood up and didn't show any emotion. "I want this fight to be over fast so I may as well use this."

Zeref suddenly had a black aura around him and whenever he stepped the ground cracked beneath him. "If you don't step up your game you'll be dead within a matter of seconds." Black orbs were all shooting towards Natsu but one of them managed to hit him, when it hit it launched Natsu directly at the wall. It felt like all of his insides had just disappeared in an instant.

"Fine if your using your final form, I will to." Natsu said. He made himself turn it to his dragon force. Natsu time after time hit Zeref with his strongest attacks but he didn't even move.

"Natsu!" Rycu shouted. "If you eat eithernano while you're in dragon force by activating it yourself, it doubles you're your strength but once you're out of dragon force mode, you'll lose lots of magic energy."

"Well it's a risk I'm going to take." Natsu picked up the eithernano and ate it, his scales grew on his legs and chest. He launched at Zeref and gave him a punch at his face, it knocked Zeref back and smashed him into a wall. "Wow I actually felt that one," Zeref said with a grin on his face.

Zeref sent the black orbs at Natsu again but Natsu walked strait through them. "How's he walking through my orbs? There not even affecting him anymore!" Natsu grabbed Zeref by the neck and lifted him up. "You want yourself to die because you live in darkness, but why bring innocent people's lives down with you?" Natsu dropped Zeref.

"Why should I be the only person to live in darkness? When I walk by I can see people living happy lives, enjoying their selves. They get to live a life freely with no curse to keep them down in darkness. I shouldn't be the only one living in this pain!" Zeref stood up and his eyes were blood red. Blood was even dripping from his eyes. A dark shadow grew around him and he made a sword out of the shadow. The blood from his eyes dripped onto the blade of the sword.

"What the hell?" Natsu said.

"This is the power of true darkness," Zeref said "you will be the people fearing me by the time I'm done with you." He let out a massive cry of anger that everyone could fear.

On a small island next to the tower, Mirajane, Gray and Gajeel made it out of the tower safely.

"Are two ok?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, we're fine but it looks like something is happening over by the tower." Gajeel said.

"I don't think there the only ones on there, I think they're fighting someone else but I know they'll be fine." Mirajane said.

"Just in case, I alerted the guild so some more people are coming over." Gray said.

"That's Zeref's cry, I think it's my time to strike."


	22. True power

"Since I am the owner of the book, I possess the same strengths as them, I have the power and speed of Mard Gear, the durability and wings of Acnologia and the raw strength of E.N.D." Zeref's muscles in his arms and legs tensioned, his blood pumped faster and he sprouted wings on his back.

"Well then since you have the strengths of your demons, I know you also have their weaknesses. Mard gear only needed a few good hits to defeat, Acnologia had fear and E.N.D I don't know much about but I'll be able to see his weaknesses as the fight progresses."

Zeref pounced on Natsu's body and started to strangle him, Erza and Rycu tried to help him but Zeref used a spell which made it so he couldn't move.

"You don't know anything!" Zeref shouted. He flicked his finger at Natsu and it sent him flying, Zeref's wings flapped heavy gusts of wind at Natsu so he had to push through the wind. He launched at Natsu and knocked him back again with a punch to the face. Zeref's hand pushed against Natsu's heart and Natsu started to feel immense pain to his heart. Natsu screamed in pain, "I could end your life now if you want, fighting against me guarantees you won't come out alive."

Natsu stopped screaming and stood up, "This fight won't end the same as all your others.

I'm different to everyone else, I don't back down a fight and I'll never stop." Natsu's fist lit up with fire and he punched Zeref back, "I'll never stop till you're wiped off the face of the earth!" Natsu shouted.

He jumped to Zeref and kicked him in the face, he then made a blast of fire from his foot blast into Zeref's face. Zeref grabbed Natsu's foot and swung him into the wall. "Unfortunately you may need to reconsider it because you can't use your friends as your only reason to fight on."

"Your right," Natsu said, "This isn't just for my friends, this is for everyone!" Natsu shouted as he dashed towards Zeref and punched his stomach, pushing him back once again. Zeref still stood up, "that isn't enough," he said with a grin. Natsu shouted, "Dragonslayer secret art, Lightening divine flames dragon drill of death!"

Natsu's flames became black in in hand and his body was bursting with electricity. Natsu started spinning like a drill, the drill was flaming was dark and light fire which had boosted power because of the electricity, Natsu charged right into Zeref's stomach which made him blast at sonic speed into the wall. Natsu and Rycu were in shock that Zeref had lost and that their chains had been broken, they ran over to his body just before he collapsed on the floor.

Zeref's body stood up, "Impressive attack I must admit but you still won't win with only that." "I'll take over this fight." Rycu said. Just as they were about to fight… The hand of a dragon busted through Zeref's chest. Everyone was in shock as Zeref's body fell right to the floor with no life left inside of it. They were even more shocked that as the body of Zeref fell, Acnologia stood behind his body with blood squirted on his hand.

"What? Am I late to the party?" Acnologia asked.

"Erza you and Natsu stay back, he's all mine." Rycu said. "That look in your eyes. That's the look of anger, I guess you finally remembered then." Acnologia said.

"I never forgot that day and you'll pay for all the innocent lives you ruined."

"What are you on about?" Erza asked.

"Back when I was a child, after Acrilla left I lived in a nice peaceful village with a kind family who had found me and took me in. One day, Acnologia came, he destroyed everything and he killed everyone in the village, I didn't die because I was out doing a job for some people in the village, when I came back I was in horror, I checked the whole village but not one was alive, even the family who took me in."

"That's horrible!" Erza said with shock in her facial expression.

"That's why I wanted revenge on him in the first place and I finally have the time to do it one on one." Rycu said.

"I'm guessing you're not going to go easy on me, I could tell last time all of you were holding back against me, I finally get to see your true power. Last time wasn't right anyway, I wanted to take everyone on at once and that backfired massively on me but I won't hold back just because there's only one of you to fight."

"Let's see if your cocky attitude gets the best of you this time." Rycu said.

"I've always wanted to see, the power of a true dragonslayer."

Acnologia teleported behind Rycu to try and land the first hit, Rycu turned around and their hands collided but Acnologia pushed Rycu's out the way and punched Rycu in the face.

"Since when could he teleport!?" Rycu thought.

"Me and you are alike, I also possess all dragonslayer magic in my human form, I have light, dark, fire, metal, air, lightening, poison and the teleportation that you have. We are practically the same except for one thing, I can use all the magic to the best of my ability."

Acnologia charged through Rycu and left a scratch on Rycu which left poison behind, eating away at his skin.

"See what I mean?" Acnologia said.

"If you want to play dirty then so am I." Rycu changed his attacks to poison as well. They both started to swipe at each other with their sharp claws but they kept on missing each other. Rycu's hand started to sting because of the poison which left him vulnerable for an attack.

"Always keep your guard up!" Acnologia shouted as he punched Rycu so hard he made the ground shake.

"Times up, pal. It's time for the end of you!"


	23. 2 vs 1

"This'll be pretty boring if we don't do something so how about I make things more interesting. How would you like your pain served, slowly, quickly or how about I just make it as painful as I can?" Acnologia asked.

"I won't feel any at all since you're the one who's going to be wiped the floor with."

"Let's ramp thing up a bit, I won't even need to do anything." Acnologia said. His eyes turned red and he stared into Natsu's lifeless body. Suddenly Natsu stood up and his eyes were glowing as well, all magic had been restored instantly. Acnologia then stared into Erza's eyes and they turned red as well, they pushed passed Rycu and stood next to Acnologia.

"Since you would go all out on me, would you do it to your friends as well?"

"What are you doing!?" Rycu shouted.

"I'm in control of them now all they can do is watch it happen as they slaughter their friend with no mercy. Every time you hit them, they can feel the pain, would you really do something like that to your friends?" Acnologia asked.

"Why can't you fight me yourself?" Rycu asked.

"It's much more entertaining this way, I forgot to mention, because I already know what you are capable of, all of your friends will receive much more power and they can't run out of magic energy. They can't stop until one side dies." Acnologia explained. Acnologia stretched his had forward making Erza and Natsu launch at Rycu.

Natsu punched Rycu in the head then Erza came up from behind and cut his back, Natsu then launched at Rycu again and punched him so he smacked into the wall again. "There has to be some way that I can stop them without hurting them." Rycu thought.

"I'm afraid there is no way else to stop them he said, if you even think about attacking me I will kill them right on the spot." Acnologia said.

"How'd he know what I was thinking? Wait, I remember, he also possesses the powers of cobra so that means he can hear my thoughts."

"Jackpot! I'm surprised it took you that long to realise. I can control them and since I can hear your attacks, I can make them counter them." Acnologia shouted.

"If he can hear my attacks, I have to empty my mind don't think about my attacks think of something that matters, something like my friends, their why I'm doing this and I can't give up on them now."

"You may fight for your friends but they will always be against you, they may be your allies in your heart but they are against you. I can even hear what they think about you, they think you're a desperate idiot looking for attention with no other reason to fight but for yourself. They think that you don't care for them because if you did you wouldn't hurt them, they never cared for you and never will, you may as well abandon them. I may be doing the wrong thing but I admire my enemy's courage and desperate cause to fight, I like a person who gives it their all like you but your friends don't even care half as much as me. Believe what you want but I know the truth, I've been around them long enough to know. Erza thinks you're a creep, Natsu thinks you're a show-off. They don't admire you in the slightest all they do is despise you and they don't want you to be in their life, they think all you've done in life for them is make situations far worse. Every moment they showed they cared is a lie, they are just trying to lift your spirits just to crush them right in front of you. I believe you are a strong wizard who always gives it their all and would never back down from a fight. I would like you as a friend so why don't we work together to show them why you should never reject family." Acnologia reached out his hand to Rycu.

"That's not true!" Natsu and Erza were screaming in their heads but it never came out the mouth.

Rycu grabbed Acnologia's hand and stood up again. "You're right." Rycu said.

"Finally talked some sense into you."

"Rycu why!" Erza was shouting in her head.

"What you said…is a load of bull crap!" Rycu said as he punched Acnologia in the head.

"I knew he wouldn't give up on us!" Natsu shouted.

"Fair enough." Acnologia said. He reached his arm out again and both of his minions attacked. Rycu blocked Natsu's attack and punched Erza back again. Erza appeared around Rycu's back and swiped at him, Rycu grabbed Erza and swung him into Natsu blasting both of them into each other. "They may be able to feel the pain but I always know they'd fight through it."

Natsu turned into his lightening dragon form and roared at Rycu, Rycu teleported behind him and elbowed his back, pushing him forward which he then uppercut him and used his sky dragon roar to blast him up further. While Natsu was airborne, Erza switched to her armour which had a shield and she put it up against Rycu's punch but he broke right through it and pushed her back. "No way, that armour is strong enough to block an ephirion cannon blast." Erza thought. She then switched to her armour with wings and she dived at Rycu but Rycu stopped her sword with his own hands and broke it into two pieces.

He then punched her back and stunned her for a bit to deal with Natsu, he looked up and saw Natsu charging down from when Rycu launched him in the air. They both collided fists and it created a giant explosion with a beam of light coming out of it. Once the smoke cleared, Natsu and Erza teamed up again. Erza switched to her fire empress armour so she could handle Rycu's fire attacks.

"He sure knows how to put up a fight." Natsu said.

"He is dealing with Natsu and Erza now like it's nothing, once he's finished with them. It's my turn and I will make sure he never lives to see the light again."


	24. Sadness

"This can't be good." Rycu thought. They're teamed up now, I can't use my fire attacks now because of Erza so that means my strongest set of attacks are practically useless on her. If I take out Natsu with them first, I can take Erza out another way."

Rycu charged at Natsu but Erza stood in the way and pushed him back effortlessly, Natsu charged at Rycu at full force but then at the last second pushed he moved around him and hit him towards Erza. Erza cut Rycu's foot with her sword and punched him back on the floor. Rycu struggled to get up but Natsu and Erza kept hitting him back down before he could do anything.

Rycu instead slide talked Erza, knocking her over and then kicked he in the back towards Natsu. Erza boosted off of Natsu's body and charged directly into Rycu, she grabbed him as she flew past and smashed him into the pillars, then used him as a cushion to soften the landing.

Erza stood on his body with the sword to his neck, Rycu grabbed the sword by the sharp tip and stood up which made him cut his hand but he did this on purpose. Rycu lifted his hand and felt the cut, the hand suddenly regenerated and looked like it had more power behind it than before.

Rycu punched Erza in the chest, pushing her back, then he pierced strait into her chest which made her trip onto the floor where she was vulnerable for an attack. Rycu dived in for another attack but Natsu met paths with him and punched him directly in the face. Erza rushed up head on and she cut at Rycu's face but missed his eyes, her sword cut his eyebrow and slice his lip.

Rycu was shocked by the attack so he dived behind him and blasted him forward, Erza had her sword ready and was centimetres from impaling him but he managed to stop himself in front of her and threw her sword out the way. As he threw it Erza punched him furiously in the chest and made him slide back. Natsu was behind him and uppercut him into the sky, they both roared at each other but Natsu's suddenly became more powerful and it blasted Rycu even further.

Erza equipped her heavens wheel armour and had hundreds of swords at the ready to blast at Rycu. She launched all the swords at Rycu, each one hit him for blow after blow, scratching and cutting his skin. The swords that missed him would loop back around to him and stab him in the back.

Natsu jumped up and made it behind Rycu, he blasted down Rycu by punching him in the back and charging down with him, crashing him into the floor. Rycu's body was flat on the floor and Natsu stood with his foot on him. Rycu still pushed up though, he moved Natsu's foot out the way and stood up.

"I know you can hear me inside there so listen up, I've been in the guild for such little time but trust me when I say this. You two are very strong wizards, you both have amazing magic and you always fight for what you want. I know for a fact that you care about everyone either friend or foe, you always open them with open arms. You are always the people who guided everyone else and helped them to be a better person. Everyone needs you so you can't just give up on them. You need to fight it; no magic or person can control you so don't let this do it either."

Natsu and Erza's faces had no expression on them yet tears of sadness dripped from their eyes.

"You can't control how strong you are or how you fight but for damn sure you can free yourself from this stupid spell."

When they attacked again their attacks seemed just as aggressive and as powerful as before, "Acnologia must be getting mad." Rycu thought.

"Yes I am." Acnologia said. "All this talk about you and your friends guiding each other is a load of garbage, who needs friends, all they do is weigh you down from your true power."

"That's because you never tried!" Rycu shouted and it made Acnologia think. "You don't know what friendship really is, it's about supporting each other and helping them become stronger. What you say is wrong, friend help each other unleash their true power, it frees them from the bonds that have bound them to darkness. You don't know this because you never freed yourself from the darkness. You let it grow larger and larger, it feeds off your hatred and becomes stronger."

Acnologia's face showed no more emotion, his white eyes stared down at the floor in shock, "Your wrong!" Acnologia shouted as a black aura surrounded him, "The darkness is true strength, this is what power really is and if being alone was how I would achieve it then so be it!"

"But you were never alone…were you… You had your dragon, he taught you his dragon magic. He was your friend. You killed him, had him at your mercy. That's what started it all, your loneliness, your hatred…your darkness."

"Shut up!" Acnologia shouted. His hand leached forward and Natsu an Erza attack as aggressive as ever.

Natsu punched him from the back into Erza and Erza sliced at his chest. Rycu still stood, Natsu launched at him again and knocked him back even further. Erza ran up to him and punched him through the wall…but Rycu stood back up and walked back.

"Just die!" Acnologia shouted as Natsu turned into his lightening dragon divine flame mode and he roared at Rycu with all his strength inside of him. The roar directly hit Rycu.

"No!" Natsu and Erza thought in their heads.

When the smoke cleared Rycu was standing still with a smile on his face, his legs were shaking and he barely was able to stand.

"The games over, my turn."


	25. Golden flame

Natsu and Erza were staring directly at Rycu as he stood there barely able to stand, he started to regain balance and stood still. He smiled at them and you could see his dragon fangs start to grow and his scales appear.

Rycu dashed around the room at light speed but Erza and Natsu still somehow kept up with him. "The longer I survive the angrier Acnologia gets and the angrier he is, the more power and aggression behind their attacks." Rycu thought.

Rycu faked out both of them to attack and so he kicked them into each other to lose their balance. Erza pulled herself back up and grabbed onto Rycu and redirected his movement to Natsu which he got launched away by.

Rycu's vision blacked out for a second and he was unable to move. Natsu and Erza walked up to Rycu's body, at the same time Natsu broke Rycu's left arm and Erza stabbed he sword through his right leg. Rycu's vision came back and screamed in pain.

Natsu then punched him and it blasted him through more of the walls, he picked up Rycu's leg and swung him into the wall. Rycu pulled the sword out of his leg and used it to help him stand up. "This makes things a whole lot harder." Rycu thought.

He kicked Natsu away with his left foot and Erza was about to punch him but Rycu managed to counter it and twisted her arm, then he grabbed the sword, "Sorry Erza, but this'll hurt." He stabbed the sword through Erza's leg and kicked it so now she couldn't pull anymore quick attacks. Erza felt it and screamed in pain, "Well something had to be done," Erza thought.

Natsu rushed from behind but Rycu swiped at him with his right fist and knocked him into a pillar. He then charged at Natsu and hit his body with all the pillars and finished him off by throwing him into the wall. Erza came limping as fast as she could behind him and she threw the sword at him but he barely dodged it in time.

When Rycu looked back at Erza she had pulled the sword out of her leg and it looked as if nothing had happed. She even had been able to run again. "I forgot to mention, all their wounds can heal so you have to deal damage like that faster." Acnologia said. "If I could knock them out at least once, they should lose the spell affects." Rycu thought.

Natsu had gotten up, he grabbed Rycu by the head and smashed it in the floor, he then lifted him back up and kicked him to Erza but as he was being kicked he managed to grab Natsu and he kicked off of Erza and skidded Natsu's head across the whole floor.

Meanwhile on the nearby island Lucy, Juvia, Elfman and Cana all made it to the island. "What's going on?" Lucy asked." We managed to get a good look, they finished off Jellal and then that creep Zeref arrived and Natsu fought him but then Acnologia came out of nowhere and killed Zeref. Right now Rycu's fighting Natsu and Erza, they both had a red light in their eyes and they are much stronger than they were before." Gray explained.

"More of Acnologia's tricks." Gajeel said.

"What are we doing then? We have to help Rycu, he can't just fight both of them especially if they're stronger!" Lucy shouted.

"I'm sorry but we can't do anything in this situation. If we join the fight Acnologia will pull some sort of trump card so we can't risk anything." Gray said.

"What'll happen to them? How can Rycu stop them?" Elfman asked.

"All we can do is hope," Mirajane said.

Natsu repeatedly punched at Rycu and then did one massive punch to launch him across the battlefield. Erza then kicked him upwards in the air and jumped up to him. She grabbed Rycu and punched him in the face to make him unable to see. She then punched him towards Natsu which Rycu then got his vision back and collided fists with him.

Erza landed behind him and grabbed his hands and moved them behind his back so Natsu repeatedly punched him, Natsu did a massive punch on Rycu and launched him and Erza back. Erza kicked off of the wall and while they were airborne she turned Rycu around and threw a massive punch pushing him down to the floor.

Rycu pushed himself up again and saw Natsu and Erza standing next to each other. Rycu had a furious look on his face and he shouted with anger. His skin itself was burning with golden flames.

He launched at Natsu and Erza and crashed their heads together, he grabbed Natsu punched him headfirst into the wall then grabbed Erza and smashed her into the floor.

"Wait…" Natsu thought. "Their golden flames, they banish evil so that means…"

"The more he hits us the more evil that is banished." Erza thought.

"Sorry for all the pain I'm putting you through." Rycu said as he picked up Erza and punched her into the wall.

Natsu punched Rycu into the wall but Rycu immediately stood up and both of them roared at each other will their power.

Natsu's flame were in his lightening divine flame dragon form. The roars crossed paths with each other and it launched a golden beam of fire in the air. Rycu's golden flames overpowered Natsu's and Natsu absorbed all the golden flames and fell to the floor. The explosion also caught Erza and she also fell to the floor.

Rycu could barely move, he turned around and saw Natsu and Erza's body's laying on the floor and he breathed a sigh of relief that the fight was over. The area was a wreck, there was many holes in the floor and walls and most of the pillars were destroyed.

Once the darkness banished Natsu and Erza woke back up to their normal selves and looked around them of the mess they made.

On the nearby island everyone was amazed by the battle. "He beat both of them and turned them back to normal!" Gray said in amazement.

"I knew he'd save them and win the fight." Mirajane said happily.

"He did it…he beat both of us and banished the darkness in us, if it wasn't for him we'd be goners." Natsu said.

"I knew I'd save you, I never let go." Rycu's eyes closed and his body was falling to the floor but Erza and Natsu caught him and help him tight to their hearts.

"That was an interesting fight." Acnologia said.

"I'll make you pay punk!" Natsu shouted at Acnologia. Acnologia pointed his hand at Natsu and it sent out a blast which sent him flying.

"He should have spared some of his energy though for the real fight." Acnologia said. Acnologia stomped his foot on the floor and the ground felt like it was trembling but nothing moved at all.

Rycu was awoken by the trembling ground and leaned up. Erza, Natsu, Rycu, Gajeel and Acnologia all started to glow yellow and disappear.

"What's happening to you Gajeel?" Cana asked.

"I don't know but don't worry I'll make it back in one piece." Gajeel said.

Once all of them had disappeared they woke up and it looked as if they were in an endless area. There was nothing besides water which was about ankle deep everyone looked across the endless area and there stood Acnologia.

"Welcome to my world."


	26. Ultimate power

Everyone could feel that all their magic energy had returned. "Your world?" Natsu asked.

"Yes I've transported you into my mind, the only way to get out, is by killing me and I can only leave once you're all dead."

"That's crazy!" Gajeel shouted.

"I always like things to be on the line so why don't I do this." Suddenly a magical force field appeared around Erza and she floated next to Acnologia. "If you want Erza back you have to kill me first."

"How dare you!" Natsu shouted and he charged up to the magical force field and smashed his fist against it but nothing happened and Natsu suddenly was shocked by lightning and stumbled back. "I wouldn't do that, it's body link magic and it's unbreakable so you're just hurting yourself. Also since this is my world I can give myself the upper hand. Isn't this great, three dragonslayers vs a dragon."

"Release Erza, she isn't part of this battle!" Rycu asked.

"No she isn't but it's always fun to have someone's life on the line, they always depend on their allies but it's inevitable, the outcome of this fight will be obvious." Acnologia said.

During the whole conversation Natsu was looking down at the floor in tears with his fist clenched. "How could you!" Natsu shouted as he sprung at Acnologia and punched him put he just lifted his hand and blocked Natsu's full punch. Rycu and Gajeel then launched into action. Gajeel tried to use his club to knock Acnologia back into Rycu so then he could land a hit on him but Acnologia grabbed his club and swung him into Rycu.

Natsu punched at Acnologia again but it was blocked, he tried to follow it up by kicking him but Acnologia grabbed his leg and swung him onto the pile of dragonslayers. They slowly crawled out of the pile and stood up again, "If you're already out of energy, you stand no chance." Acnologia explained.

"That wasn't even a warm up," Natsu said. "Yeah, I was just testing my magic." Gajeel said. "You're going to regret ever hurting one of us." Rycu said.

They all pounced at Acnologia but a blast of darkness blasted all of them back without even moving. All of their body started to burn as if it was acid and they all crawled up in a ball in pain. Rycu managed to stand back up and withstand the pain, "If you just are going to put down my friends like that, then you've got another thing coming." Rycu said. "Honestly I did that because I want to fight you," Acnologia said.

"That's a dirty move," Rycu said. He jumped to Acnologia and punched him in the face while he was off-guard. "Now that's a dirty move and you'll pay for that!" Acnologia shouted.

Acnologia charged at Rycu and used his iron club but Rycu dodged it and scratched him on the arm with his poison claws. Acnologia then stretched his iron club and it launched Rycu backwards. Acnologia charged at Rycu and punched him just before he hit the ground and smashed him in the water.

Rain had started during the battle and it was progressively getting heavier as the fight progressed. Acnologia did a lightning fire dragon roar at him and he thought he had him when he disappeared but Rycu had turned into a tiny spark of electricity and sneaked up behind him and hit him in the back. Acnologia grabbed his hand as he was pushed forward and smashed Rycu into the floor.

All Erza could do is watch, Natsu and Gajeel were in pain on the floor and Rycu had to have a one on one fight against Acnologia.

"I fear no opponent!" Acnologia shouted. "You are no were near my power!" He smashed onto Rycu's body that was already flat on the floor. Rycu tried to push himself up but Acnologia pushed his foot back down. He leaned down, grabbed Rycu's face and held it so he was facing towards him, Acnologia grabbed Rycu by the neck and his hand glowed purple.

Long, sharp claws grew from his nails and pushed against Rycu's skin, "One wrong move and your neck will flood out blood." Rycu pushed his body backwards and got out of Acnologia's grasp. As he pushed himself back though, Acnologia had scratched the back of his neck. Rycu touched the open wound and blood flowed onto his hand, mixed into the blood was a purple liquid.

Rycu started to have blurry vision and he grabbed the back of his neck in pain, he fell back into the water and he lets go of the wound. Blood dripped from his neck and flowed in the water, Acnologia walked over to Rycu's body and lifted him up by the neck. He lifted his other hand and was ready to stab it through Rycu's body, just before he did Rycu managed to pull himself together and he kicked Acnologia's hand and then punched him across the face.

"Finally got it back together?" Acnologia shouted as he launched at Rycu and threw him across the arena and then punched him back down into the ground. Rycu's attacks got weaker and weaker as the fight went on, Acnologia repeatedly pounded at Rycu's body and from the look of his face he looked like he would stop for a second.

Just as Acnologia swung another punch at Rycu he grabbed his fist and smiled, Acnologia had a confused look on his face. Rycu swung Acnologia away from him so he flew back, he then teleported in front of Acnologia and punched him up in the air. He teleported above him and smashed him back into the ground.

The rain had got even heavier and was pounding at their backs as they got up and looked each other in the eyes. Acnologia teleported behind Rycu and Rycu blocked it but Acnologia grabbed his hand and threw him across the floor. Acnologia teleported behind him and grabbed his back, then smashed him on the floor again. He aggressively pinched Rycu and had him at his mercy.

He was about to end it until there was a noise…

"I'd leave him alone if I were you, your about to get annihilated."


	27. Tranceformation

Natsu and Gajeel stood up. "You can't beat up one of our friends like that and expect to get away with it." Natsu said.

"We could have gone easy on you and make it a fair fight but now I'm reconsidering it." Gajeel said. Acnologia was so confused of the situation he was vulnerable for an attack. Rycu kicked him off of him and his body flew towards Natsu and Gajeel which they both knocked him back as Acnologia's feet skid along the floor.

Erza was in tears bur when she heard Natsu and Gajeel's voice she felt less worried and happy that all of them were now ok. They all jumped at him like last time and Acnologia used the same attack on them. They were all blasted back again, "Did you really fall for the same trick twice?"

They jumped out of the shadows and they looked perfectly fine, "How has it had no effect on them?" Acnologia panicked. All three of them used their iron dragon fist attacks on him and it blasted him back but suddenly Acnologia appeared behind them and smacked them forward. He tried to do the same trick again but Natsu turned around and stopped the attack, Gajeel pushed him back and Rycu knocked him up in the air.

All three of them jumped up in the air and started juggling him up in the air with attacks so he couldn't do anything. Acnologia kicked Natsu in the face and swung him into the other two and it knocked them all back to the ground.

One by one Acnologia teleported to them and knocked them all in the air, "Now this is a roar!" Acnologia roared at them and it sent out a giant black laser beam which made all three of them feel like they were in a black hole and they were being ripped apart. "That was an easier fight then I anticipated." Acnologia said.

"Really because the fight aint over yet!" Natsu said and he sprung at Acnologia, swiping him off his feet then Rycu grabbed Acnologia and cut his skin with his sharp claws and made it sting. Gajeel then used his iron club to knock him back into the air and smash him to pieces with his fist. Natsu jumped at him again but Acnologia caught his fist but Rycu teleported behind Acnologia and punched his back.

Gajeel hit Acnologia's head with his club and then Natsu jumped above him and sent down a massive ball of fire. Once all the smoke had disappeared Acnologia was laying on the floor but then he stood up as if he had just gone for a nap. "I felt nothing of what just happened, all your attacks just feel as if you're prodding me with a stick, if you really want to beat me and get Erza back, never mind leaving with your lives, your attacks will have to be a lot stronger than that, let's see if I'll even be able to feel one of your attacks." Acnologia said in a cocky voice.

"I wouldn't get cocky if I were you, I know you felt it and you're just afraid to admit it." Natsu said. Natsu punched him in the face but it didn't even make Acnologia move an inch. A black aura surrounded Natsu and a laser beam struck down on him and made him fall to the floor before Acnologia. He looked down and picked up Natsu, he threw him in front of the others and Natsu got up, he was about to attack again but Rycu stopped him.

Acnologia made a hand motion and Rycu and Gajeel were blasted back. Acnologia appeared before Natsu and whispered, "Light out." Natsu's vision all of a sudden went black and he couldn't see. Natsu wondered round like a blind person and walked around in different directions. Acnologia was hitting him from many different directions so Natsu couldn't keep up with where he was," Use my senses." Natsu thought.

After being repeatedly hit over and over again, Natsu finally managed to block one of Acnologia's attacks and he muttered, "Got you." He punched Acnologia in the face and knocked him back. The rain at this point felt as sharp as knives. Acnologia pounced on Natsu and held the wrists of Natsu's arms, he bent them back like the hands of a clock and crushed them as easy as chewing gum.

Natsu leaned his head over to the right and nodded, Acnologia turned his head around and Rycu and Gajeel were looking at him. Gajeel punched him across the face, as his body flipped around he tried to swing Natsu at them but they dodged it and Rycu gave it a boost of fire so as Natsu looped back around, he kicked Acnologia in the head as hard as you would need to destroy a meteor with just your toe.

Acnologia's body flung across the entire area, "No more! It's time to end this!" Acnologia got ready to do I ginormous roar at them and the three dragonslayers did too. It was all silence except the heavy tapping of the rain. All of a sudden both sizes launched their roars at each other. Acnologia's seemed to be overpowering theirs but suddenly they bounced back and a massive explosion followed along with it.

Erza was watching from the very front and she saw it in full, she thought that was it, they'd all been wiped out. Once the smoke cleared all four of them laid on the floor, they all leaned up to see Acnologia lay on the floor. They stood up and walked over to his body and heard him laughing. All of them were confused to why he was laughing but then a black aura appeared around him Again and a massive black beam covered his body.

The wind began to get even stronger and they could barely keep their selves up, where Acnologia's body laid, something began to grow, it got larger and larger and covered most of the area.

"It can't be." Natsu said.

"A dragon."


	28. The Dragon and the Slayers

Acnologia's size increased greatly, he was five time as big as his form in the human world, his skin turned into giant scales, he grew claws on his hands and feet, his eyes became larger and was a sharp yellow and his teeth became very sharp.

All of their faces were in fear, "A dragon…this can't be good, last time we faced him in his dragon form, he wiped out all of us in one go." Natsu said.

"How the hell are we supposed to beat this guy?" Gajeel said in confusion.

"We beat him up until he gets turned back into his human form." Rycu said

All of them launched at Acnologia's chest but nothing happened as soon as they hit him, his chest was as stiff as a stone statue. Acnologia lifted his claw and wiped all of them off his chest.

"He isn't feeling any of that." Natsu said. "How are we supposed to hurt him?"

"There has to be a weak point or a soft spot to attack, that should make him start to feel pain but to even make him flinch we'd need a lot of power." Rycu said.

"This'll be too easy." Acnologia said. He sent out a laser beam from his mouth directly to the dragonslayers. They barely managed to dodged it, it went directly next to the causing them to be blasted to the right. They all got up and charged at him but Acnologia swiped his tail at them. They managed to avoid that and Natsu grabbed onto his tail, Acnologia furiously hit his tail up and down, in hopes he could knock him off.

Natsu slowly started to climb up his monstrous body, up to his head. Acnologia was too busy focusing on Natsu, he lost attention of Gajeel and Rycu, the two them was at the feet of Acnologia and was charging up a powerful attack.

Natsu got a clear view of them and gave them a nod to attack. Both Gajeel and Rycu let out a powerful attack at his ankles to make him stumble backwards. Natsu jumped to the top of Acnologia's head and did a powerful attack on his head, that make him fall to the floor.

"See not so hard to take down." Natsu said. Acnologia tried to grab Natsu but Natsu held both sides of Acnologia's fingers away from him but he couldn't keep it up for much longer. Acnologia held Natsu tight, stood up and smashed him on the floor, Acnologia held his sharp claw above Natsu and struck it down.

Natsu tried to roll out the way but Acnologia caught his left arm and stabbed his claw through it. Everyone was in shock, Rycu and Gajeel ran over to Natsu's body but Acnologia crushed his fist in the floor next to them, sending shockwave through the floor which made them stop in their tracks and get blasted back to where they were.

Acnologia stomped towards them and put his hand on their bodies and slowly crushed them. Their inside felt like it was in a compressor, Acnologia crushed their stomachs, breaking their ribs into jigsaw pieces.

They tried to push him off them but his hand wouldn't move a bit. Rycu grabbed Acnologia's claw and managed to smash it into pieces. "How?" Acnologia thought. He stumbled off their bodies, Rycu blasted at it again and It looked as if there never was a claw.

"That's our weak spot!" Rycu shouted. Natsu stumbled up, his left arm was hanging on as loose as a string, "I got you." Natsu said. Acnologia looked behind him in confusion. Rycu and Gajeel charged at the weak spot, Rycu changed to his poison claws and sliced at his open wound.

Gajeel used club to break a few more of the nails, Natsu roared with his fire at all the open wounds and it sent Acnologia in pain. The nail regenerated again so now they couldn't attack it. Acnologia roared at all of them and it blasted them backwards, he roared at the dragonslayers and all three roared back at him. Their roar was immediately overpowered and it blasted all of them back.

"I think we're screwed now, we're injured and barely able to attack and he's took next to no damage and has wasted next to none of his magic energy. So what can we do?" Gajeel asked. "You know what we do, we do it all are lives, we never give up, Erza's life is on the line and we can't allow him to hurt her." Natsu said.

All three of the dragon slayers split up in different directions and charged at Acnologia, he tried to hit the but because they were split up it was next to impossible for him to hit all of them.

They destroyed his claws and hit the weak point for blow after blow and Acnologia could keep up with them. "I've had enough with you!" Acnologia shouted and a wave of darkness blasted everyone back.

"I won't play fair anymore." Acnologia said. The magical ball that Erza was floating in came into his hand. "If you don't kill me within twenty minutes, Erza will die by my hand. Everyone was shocked, Acnologia put the ball aside from the battle.

All of them were in anger, Natsu, Gajeel and Rycu all clenched their fists in anger. Natsu started to glow red and had a flame aura. Gajeel glowed grey and had a smoke aura. Rycu glowed golden and had a golden light aura.

"You bastard!" Natsu shouted.

"Sorry but that's just the rules of this game, this is my world, my mind, so I can have as I want it to be." Acnologia explained to them.

All three of them let out a giant roar of anger which made to ground shake as aggressive as when Acnologia punched the floor. They started to change, the battle just went up to a whole other level.

Natsu, Gajeel and Rycu, changed into…dragons.


	29. The Dragons Fall

Just like Acnologia, they grew much larger than the dragons in the human world, their skin turned into scales, their nails grew into claws, their eyes glowed yellow and their teeth became sharp. They all looked like their parent dragons, Natsu looked like Igneel, Gajeel looked like metalicana and Rycu looked like Acrilla.

Erza was shocked by the sight and so was Acnologia. "They turned into dragons?" Acnologia thought. "It doesn't matter if you are dragons, you can't beat me! Igneel was the strongest of the dragons and I tore him to shreds, didn't I Natsu?" Acnologia said evilly.

"You can't play with us anymore!" Natsu shouted. "It's our time to strike back!"

Acnologia flew above them all, Natsu then went airborne as well, he dived at Acnologia and smashed his body onto the floor. They moved around in a circle formation like cats, staring each other deeply in the eye, waiting for the other to attack.

After a while Gajeel jumped in and tackled Acnologia to the floor, he scratched Acnologia on the chest but then Acnologia bit his arm that he was scratched with. Natsu couldn't attack that easily because when he turned into his dragon form he still kept the same injuries so his arm was very hard to use.

Rycu then charged at Acnologia and flipped him over with his head. Rycu scratched Acnologia's leg and leaned forward to bite him but Acnologia smashed his arm down on Rycu's head and swiped him away with his long tail.

All four of them jumped up in the air and started to fly with their wing, Natsu, Gajeel and Rycu flapped their wings at Acnologia and it caused him to push against the wind to get to them.

All three of them dived like bullets towards Acnologia and smashed against him repeatedly. As Natsu flew past he pinned Acnologia to the ground and jammed his claws into his left arm. Acnologia smashed Natsu across the head and then pinned him on the floor, Acnologia smashed his fist into Natsu's weak hand and broke it.

Natsu's left arm became unusable and he started to move with only his left arm. "Natsu!" Erza cried out. "Don't worry about me!" Natsu shouted. Acnologia knocked Natsu over and stabbed him in the chest with his claws. Erza banged against the wall of the pink dome repeatedly.

"I've had enough fun with you!" Acnologia shouted. He crushed his fist and the cage began to close in to squash Erza. "No!" Natsu shouted and he punched Acnologia across the face, suddenly the ball Erza was trapped in broke into pieces and she fell from high in the sky.

"Erza!" Natsu, Gajeel and Rycu shouted. Rycu rushed over to where Erza was falling from and dived just at the last second. Erza landed on the back of Rycu, she had her eyes closed because she thought she was going to die. Erza looked at herself, "I'm still alive?" Erza thought.

"Everything's going to ok now, I've got you." Rycu said. "You should get far away fast! This is too dangerous for you to be around!" As soon as Rycu finished his sentence Acnologia charged at Rycu and they bashed heads with each other. "Go Erza!" Rycu shouted.

"No! I refuse to watch my friends get hurt any longer and not do anything about it. Acnologia took his arm and hit Rycu in the head which made him fall forwards. "Got you!" Acnologia said and he reached to grab Erza but Gajeel charged over and knocked Acnologia on his side.

"If I can't make you go then just hold on as tight as you can!" Rycu demanded. "Fine." Erza said, she laid down on Rycu's back and wrapped her arms around his neck as much as she could. "Hold on tight, you're in for a hell of a ride."

Gajeel scratched Acnologia in the face and blinded one of his eyes, Acnologia pounced onto Gajeel and was about to rip him in half but then Rycu charged into him and Acnologia cut off Gajeel's left ear.

Acnologia grabbed Rycu's tail and swung him onto the floor. Acnologia wrapped his claws around Rycu's neck, Rycu struggled to move and he was starting to black out. Erza climbed to Rycu's shoulder and stabbed her largest sword into Acnologia's hand. Acnologia let go Rycu's neck and moved back.

"Thanks Erza." Rycu said. Rycu stood back up and they started walking in a circular formation again. Rycu broke the silence and pounced onto Acnologia's body, Acnologia swiped his arms around aimlessly and managed to cut Rycu's eye. Rycu stumbled back and Acnologia pounced onto him and stabbed his claws into the joints of Rycu's left arm.

"Had enough yet?" Acnologia said. Rycu stabbed Acnologia in his right arm with his claws aw well and made Acnologia back off. Natsu and Gajeel rammed into the side of Acnologia and made him roll along the floor.

Rycu managed to pull himself back up off of the floor, "Are you alright Erza?" Rycu asked.

"I'm fine, it's you I'm worried about. Are you ok?" Erza asked.

"Yeah, I'll be alright but I'm not in the best of shapes to fight." Rycu said.

Rycu pulled himself up but then just tumble to the floor again. "I think it's time you leave this to them." Erza said. "Like in hell I'd do that no chance at all." Rycu said.

Acnologia flew up into the air to shoot a laser beam at all of them. "That's the same laser beam that wiped out the whole of Tinro island and us." Natsu said.

"Erza move!" Rycu shouted and he pulled Erza towards him and protected her by curling up into a ball and protecting her from the laser blast.

Once it was over Natsu, Gajeel and Rycu started to turn back into their human forms. Erza opened her eyes and saw that she was safe. She saw Rycu and the others laying on the floor lifeless.

"Rycu, Natsu, Gajeel are you all ok!?" Erza shouted.

"This is the end, Erza Scarlet." Acnologia said. "All your friends are dead this is the end of the line for you."

"Hold on." Rycu said as he pulled himself up. "I'm not done yet." He said to Acnologia, Acnologia was still in his dragon form.

"Rycu stay down, you can't see in your right eye and your left arm can't move!" Erza said.

"Nothing will ever make me stop." Rycu said. "Besides I still have one more move." Rycu started to glow yellow, "Acrilla! I ask you for your power, please lend me your strength!" Rycu's presence alone made the ground shake.

"I am combing every single element into one attack, it is powerful enough that it takes out someone's magic energy to nothing and that's if they are at full magic. I'm going beyond my limits but it's a risk I'll have to take." Rycu said.

"No don't!" Erza shouted as she stumbled forward. Acnologia also prepared to do the same roar he used to take all of them out.

"Roar of the ultimate dragon, ultimate dragon, master of the elements…roar!" Rycu roared at him with all his might, Acnologia's roar collided with Rycu's but was immediately over powered, the roar hit Acnologia in the chest and blasted him flat on his back.

Everyone's vision went white for a while and when it returned, Acnologia was flat on the floor in his human form. Rycu stood opposite him and Erza was behind looking in amazement, "He beat Acnologia by himself, while he was at no magic and Acnologia's was at full."

Rycu's body fell flat on the floor and Erza ran to him. She laid on the floor and lifted his body up, she hugged his body tight and wouldn't let go.

"Sorry but it isn't over yet." Acnologia stood up in his battered body, he had a scratched eye, arm and leg.

"Well then, I guess this is the final round." Rycu said as he got up.

"This'll be a boring fight if you have no magic left, let me do something for you." Acnologia returned both their magic power.

"No one will be spared."


	30. The final battle

"I'll help you!" Erza said.

"Sorry but you're going to have to sit out on this fight." Rycu said.

"Please!" Erza said in tears.

"I'm sorry, just get the others a safe distance away. Rycu said. Erza took Natsu and Gajeel's bodies and moved them away from Acnologia and Rycu. "I need to give you a large beating for all the times you hurt my friends, I don't care if it's me, as long as they're safe everything will be ok for them…because I'll always protect them!" Rycu shouted and charged at Acnologia.

Rycu went up to punch him but Acnologia blocked it. "You shouldn't- "Acnologia was saying before Rycu cut him off, Rycu punched him while he was speaking and kicked him back. "I'm done talking!" Rycu shouted

"Then I should just get serious already." Acnologia said. The rain that was falling got even heavier, lightning and thunder started to strike down. Acnologia charged at Rycu with his sharp claws equipped. Rycu used the shadow magic to hide, he appeared around Acnologia and knocked him forward.

"There's no going back now!" Rycu shouted as he punched Acnologia in the face and scratched him with his poison claws. "I don't regret what I did for even a second!" Acnologia shouted as he roared at Rycu with fire and shot lightning bolts at Rycu.

Acnologia stomped his foot on the ground, it made multiple rocks blast from the ground and it launched Rycu in the air. Acnologia teleported behind Rycu but Rycu turned around and blocked it, he then teleported behind Acnologia and blasted him forward.

Acnologia used his hands and stuck the landing, "That's not nice, is it?" Acnologia said. He teleported in front of Rycu and grabbed him, then he smashed his face into the floor. Rycu grabbed Acnologia's arm and swung him ahead of him.

Rycu started to use his fire attacks and Acnologia used his poison. "I forgot," Rycu said. "We're not going easy on each other are we?" "Guess it's time to pull out another trick." Acnologia said.

Rycu charged up to Acnologia and punched him back. "You should listen first, I have curses so whenever you touch me you explode." Rycu's hand suddenly glowed yellow and it exploded, blasting him backwards.

"For the benefit of the battle, I'll activate all explosions once the battle is over." Acnologia explained. "Let's continue." "It doesn't matter how many times I hit him, as long as he dies, that's all that matters." Rycu thought.

"But if you die that'll be so tragic for your friends to handle." Acnologia said. Rycu lowered his guard for a second and then Acnologia instantly scratched Rycu across the face with his claws.

Rycu shocked Acnologia with the lightening and then sliced his stomach, Acnologia punched Rycu as he flew past so they simultaneously hit each other. "I can go to dragon force but I can't get it extra powerful." Rycu thought.

"Dragon force you say? You know I can do that too." Acnologia said. His scales grew on his body and his teeth became sharp again. Rycu also used his dragon force but the same thing happened. "Acnologia with dragon force? Rycu barely stands a chance if he wasn't even at his full power the whole time." Erza thought.

They both started to move faster than the speed of sound, you wouldn't be able to see what was happening with the naked eye. Neither of them could land an attack on each other, they both were blocking each other's attacks. Rycu switched to his poison claws and scratched Acnologia's skin which caught him off-guard so Rycu then hit him with a strong fire dragon punch.

Acnologia smashed Rycu against the floor and stomped his foot on him, "Feel like giving up yet?" "Not even close!" Rycu shouted as he threw Acnologia off of him. Natsu and Gajeel were still out cold so Erza could only watch as the fight went on.

Rycu and Acnologia collided fists, then Acnologia head-butted Rycu and punched him away. "Watch this!" Acnologia said as he made a sword made of darkness appear out of nowhere, he swung it at Rycu and Rycu raised his guard to try and block it but cut through as easy as butter.

"What is that thing?!" Rycu asked.

"This, is the blade of darkness, it's unbreakable and it can cut through anything." Acnologia explained. He sliced it at Rycu's left hand and it cut straight to the bone effortlessly. Rycu let out a scream of pain which caught Erza's attention. "Rycu!" She shouted. "Stay back Erza!" Rycu shouted.

Acnologia sliced at Rycu's legs but he managed to dodge in time and kick Acnologia in the face. "You want to play with sword? Then so will I." Rycu made a golden blade appear in his hand, "This is the blade of light, it can destroy darkness and it's also indestructible.

He sliced at Acnologia and their swords collided, the blade of light smashed the blade of darkness out the way and he sliced at Acnologia's right hand which made him drop the sword. Rycu picked up the blade of darkness and held the two swords together to make one.

The two sword became one sword that had gold and black in it, moving around the blade like a liquid. Rycu stabbed Acnologia in the stomach and kicked him back. Acnologia made another sword appear in his hand.

Both of them charged at their highest speed and sliced past each other…and Rycu fell to the floor. Erza saw it happen and she started to run over to them. "Looks like it's time to end it." Rycu said as he stood back up.

"There's only one thing I can do to end this." Rycu said. His sword started to glow even brighter. "Don't do it!" Erza shouted. "He's converting all his magic energy into the sword. If he does that he'll lose all his magic energy and has a high chance of dying." Erza thought.

Acnologia and Rycu charged at each other, "This is for everyone you've hurt! Natsu, Erza, Gajeel, Igneel, Metalicana and Acrilla! Everyone you've ever hurt!" They both sliced past each other and there was a silence, they both landed back on the floor and Acnologia's body fell.

Rycu stood over Acnologia's body and held the sword above Acnologia's head, "End it already." Acnologia said. "Do you know of the countless people you hurt, the lives you took?" Rycu. "I do, I never regretted it for a second." Acnologia said. "You're cold hearted, I'll never forget what an evil person you were, goodbye, Acnologia."

Rycu closed his eyes and stabbed the sword through Acnologia's skull.

"That's it…it's finally over"


	31. Together

Rycu looked over to Erza running towards him, "Stay back." Rycu said.

"Rycu no!" Erza said in tears.

"I can rest in peace, knowing that I saved you all." Rycu said. Rycu looked at his body and it glowed fully yellow. Within an instant he exploded and his body fell to the floor, Erza cried over his body as much as you would need in a bath.

Rycu's vision went fully white and when it returned he was standing in front of his very own grave, just behind him was Erza kneeling on the floor crying out tears. Natsu stood behind her and was hugging her. Gajeel was stood next to Natsu looking down at the floor.

Everyone else was in a congregation behind them, also crying. "He saved our lives from Acnologia, at the cost of his own" Erza said. "He was really tuff, he managed to take down Acnologia by himself and he never gave up the fight. He's let everyone be in peace from now on, all the demons from the book of Zeref have been defeated, thanks to him." Natsu said.

"It's like a bitter sweet ending, now everyone can be at peace but at the cost of a close friend. Why?" "I saved them from death but I was just hurting them more." Rycu said. "I never wanted him to go," Erza said.

"Everything will be ok." Natsu said in tears and hugged Erza tighter. "He was a tuff bastard." Gajeel said in tears. "We'll always miss you, Rycu." Erza said. Rycu turned around again and Acnologia was in front him.

"Why are you here?" Rycu asked. "Since I died, I get to see the aftermath, I have to congratulate you on defeating me, it's not every day that you find someone as strong as you. Shame you died in the process and now you make your friends feel the pain of losing you." Acnologia said.

"I know I brought pain to them but at least I saved everyone from you and if it was my life that would be a sacrifice then so be it." Rycu said. "You could of beat me without that attack, you didn't do it finish me off, you did it because you gave up on them." Acnologia said.

"I'd never give up on them!" Rycu shouted. "Look what's happening now we're at your funeral because you wasted your magic energy and so the explosion killed you. You would of survived if you didn't do that, it's a shame." After Acnologia said that he faded away.

Rycu started to hear his name louder and louder, then his vision was white again. When his vision came back again he was in Acnologia's mind.

Rycu woke up and he was being tightly hugged by Erza, he still couldn't see in his right eye, he had a scratch across his face and his left arm was as loose as a noodle. The rain and lightning had stopped.

Rycu looked up at Erza's face and her tears wouldn't stop, "Erza." Rycu whispered but then he passed out because he lost lots of blood and wasted all his magic energy. "Rycu!" Erza said with relief, she started to shed tears of joy instead and squeezed him even tighter.

Gajeel and Natsu had woken up and rushed over to the area, "What happened where's Acnologia?" Natsu asked. "Acnologia's dead, Rycu defeated him by himself but almost died in the process, now he's passed out." Erza said.

Natsu was in amazement once again, "He beat Acnologia by himself?" Natsu looked over to Acnologia's body which was slowly fading away. Once Acnologia's body vanished, a beam of light struck down on them and a beam of light appeared in the human world directly on the tower and transported all of them halfway up the tower.

When they arrived back at the tower it started to shake because of all the trapped eithernano, when they teleported back Natsu and Gajeel's magic energy was somehow absorbed during the teleportation and they fainted on the spot.

"This can't be good, the tower is going to explode just like the tower of heaven. All of them are knocked out for a bit so maybe I should do what I did last time and fuse my body with the tower. I made a promise to Natsu but I have to break it." Erza thought.

She put her hand on the pod that was used to fuse with the tower and her hand sunk into the pod and slowly the rest of her was. Rycu had gained back a bit of magic energy, all the shaking had woken him up. "No Erza." Rycu whispered, he ran or the pod and stumbled over and crashed into it.

Rycu put his hand against the pod, and it sunk in as well, "I can't allow you to do this!" Rycu said. "I'm sorry but it's the only way all of you can get out alive" Erza said. Rycu pulled his arm out, "I have enough magic energy to teleport us." Rycu said.

Natsu had woken up as well because they didn't lose all their energy, "Erza, you promised me you'd never do this." Natsu said. Natsu and Rycu tried to pull Erza out the pod but it was impossible to pull her out.

Rycu and Natsu punched the pod as hard as they could and managed to break it, the pod had already fused with a part of Erza so it took away every last drop of her magic energy. Rycu held Erza's hand so she'd teleport, Natsu touched Rycu's shoulder. Gajeel had woken up as Natsu did and he held on to Rycu's other shoulder.

All four of them teleported away from the area, into a shallow part of the sea. Everyone else who had come, managed to make it far away once they noticed it would explode. The tower started to shake and crumble, suddenly a giant, blue, beautiful explosion went off in the air and removed all the grey clouds form the sky.

"Acnologia's dead, the towers destroyed, everyone is now safe from harm."


	32. The eighth month

All of them laid there in the shallow ocean, laying on their backs, looking up towards the sky. "I can't hold on much longer, I'll just close my eyes for a bit." Erza said. Gajeel and Erza let themselves pass out for a bit. Natsu and Rycu stared up to the sky, still awake, "You alright Natsu?" Rycu asked.

"It only feels like I've been hit by ten trains in a row. We were getting destroyed and you pulled yourself together and beat him on your own, you're really something else." Natsu said.

"You too, you managed to overpower Zeref if it wasn't for Acnologia he would have been Annihilated, my arm is unusable, how's yours?" Rycu asked. "It is as loose as a noodle so not very good." Natsu said.

"It was a hard fought battle but once again we emerged victorious," Rycu's eye started to sting so he grabbed it. "I have to get this damn eye sorted." They both leaned their heads up and looked at each other.

"Your eye honestly looks cool, maybe you should leave it like that once you heal it." Natsu suggested. "Since we can't use the rest of our bodies, we should just relax as well as them." "Not for me though, not yet." Rycu said as he managed to pull his body up and sat with his legs crossed, he also pulled up Natsu.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Rycu said. Blue, shining crystals were falling from the sky, there were trillions of them falling and they felt as soft as snow. "Agh! It's in my eye!" Natsu shouted and shook his arms about. "Ok it's gone now."

"I'll never forget this day, the day we avenged our parents, the day we killed Acnologia." Rycu said. "I think it's time we go to sleep!" Natsu said. "I've been looking for a time to rest forever."

"Yeah," Rycu said as he looked at Erza. Natsu and Rycu laid back once again and passed out.

When all of them woke up again, they were in the beds that were in the guild hall. Natsu and Rycu looked up at each other with a smile on their face, "Everyone's safe and sound!" Natsu said in a cheerful voice.

"Quiet down will you! We've just been beaten to bits so calm down!" Erza got up and shouted at Natsu. "S-s-sorry." Natsu said quietly. "But we did come out victorious unfortunately we did get some pretty bad injuries." Rycu said. He looked at his arm and he still couldn't move it like Natsu, his eye still had the scratch but it felt a lot better than before.

"This god damn arm is gonna cause me a lot of trouble." Rycu said. "I have to deal with it too!" Natsu said. Most of everyone's bodies had been wrapped up like they were mummies. All of them were still low on magic energy from last night.

Wendy came in huffing and puffing, "You guys really gave me a workout last night, I was shocked with what injuries you had, all of you were so close to death but Rycu and Natsu had it the worst, their arm was the most shocking. When I had it, one finger would be able to pull it off."

"Thanks for saving us!" Gajeel said. Gray then came in and went to Natsu, "You got it really bad, when we got to all of you we thought you was dead at first but then we realised you were still hanging on so we rushed you back to Wendy."

Makarov walked into the room, "he did so much ham to you. I'll make Acnologia pay for this!" Makarov shouted. "There's no need gramps, we all worked together and killed him, when all of us were down Rycu fought him one on one and he beat him up!"

"Rycu beat him!" Makarov said shockingly. "Even though that is amazing there is something that is coming that will take all of you to defeat." "Who is it?" Erza asked. "His name, is…August."

"Anyone but him!" Natsu said in panic. "He is the last one that is desperate to kill us. Honestly I think he could. He has also been training everyday intensely so once you are all healed, I need you four to train as hard as you can, Laxus and Gray will also be fighting. Our battle won't be for a long time so for now we can celebrate our victory against Acnologia!" Makarov said.

"Ahh relaxation time!" Natsu said, "I love it!" All of them were still on their beds but were laying down resting. "All we're doing is laying down!" Gajeel shouted. "Rycu." Erza said. "What is it?" Rycu asked. Deep down in her Erza knew she loved Rycu more than anyone. "Nevermind, it's just that I'm glad you're safe." "Me too." Rycu said.

Everyone in the guild hall except for Natsu, Gajeel, Rycu and Erza were celebrating their recent victory against Acnologia. "This sucks, I wanted to party!" Natsu said angrily, he tried to move but his back started to hurt and he fell back down. Through the whole day they had been visited so much which exhausted them all so they fell asleep.

The next day when Erza and Gajeel woke up, they looked around and they noticed that Rycu and Natsu had gone, "What are they doing this time?" Erza said. "It can't be something dangerous so just let them be, their wounds must of healed fast or they don't want to stay here.

Natsu and Rycu were standing in front of their home, "How I've missed our home!" Natsu shouted. "Why'd we come here, our wounds aren't fully recovered." Rycu said "I don't care what people say or how much the damage is, I'm always moving forward." Natsu said.

They went back inside the house and made them feel like home again, they switched back to their normal cloths that they wear and Natsu fixed his scarf because it had before ripped. They were messing around a lot and didn't care at all.

That was until Erza came, "What do you think you're doing here?" Natsu and Rycu took a massive gulp.


	33. Friendly fight

"Why are you two out of bed when you are nowhere even close to be fully recovered?" Erza demanded. "Look, we can't just wait, August's power is on a complete other level and if he's training so intensely, he'll be stronger than Acnologia, we can't waste any time!" Natsu said.

"I understand you're eager to start getting stronger but it isn't just you who's fighting him, it's all of us! For the meantime you two can get some rest. Plus, you still can't use your arm," Erza said.

Rycu and Natsu both looked at their arm, "This won't stop me!" Rycu said and he managed to lift up his arm a bit. "I'm surprised you can lift it that high but you still need to rest it for it to regenerate faster. Honestly in the state both you are in I could beat both of you at once." Erza said.

"Oh really?" Natsu shouted, "We challenge you to a fight!" Natsu said evilly. Erza lifted up both of her hands and flicked Natsu and Rycu in the head and it made them fall to the floor, fast asleep. "Get some good sleep." Erza thought, "Now I have to babysit you so you don't do anything stupid again.

Erza looked around the house a bit, since it had all been re-built everything looked all clean and new. There were still a few items from when their house had been burnt down, Erza saw a burnt up job request, it was a job they went on when they were fairly young, it was also the first job Erza and Natsu went on together. They had to kill a few monsters invading a village.

Erza stayed by a couple of hours and threw away all the rubbish that was left over, eventually Natsu and Rycu woke back up again and they felt good as new. "My arm feels better," Rycu said. "Mine does too!" Natsu said. "I told you some rest would do you some good, I think it's about time we went and started to train." Erza said.

They moved far away from the house, into an empty part of the woods, "Right, this seems like a good place to fight." Erza said. "Fight!" Natsu said worriedly. "Yes, we'll have a few fights, it will start with me against Rycu, then Natsu vs Rycu then me vs Natsu." Erza explained.

"Let's get started!" Natsu shouted. First was Erza vs Rycu so they stood opposite of each other, staring at each other. Natsu was far out of the way because he knew it would be a big fight. "Use all your strength Erza, otherwise this'll be too easy." Rycu said. "Go!" Natsu shouted and both of them dashed towards each other.

Erza pulled out her heavy sword and prepared to swing at Rycu but he disappeared, Rycu then appeared behind Erza and was ready to attack but Erza sliced her sword the whole way round and hit Rycu. "Predictable move." Erza said. "I shouldn't be so careless." Rycu said. "So I'm not going to go easy from now on!" Rycu shouted.

Rycu charged at Erza again and the second they would of hit each other, Erza swiped her sword and Rycu teleported beside her, kicking her across the area and also made her drop her heavy sword. Rycu grabbed the sword and broke it with one hand.

Erza switched to her heavens wheel armour and used her telepathy to launch a lot of swords at Rycu. Rycu teleported away from them and lost attention to them. Rycu looked at Erza ready for her next attack but she had a smile on her face and pointed next to him. When he looked, suddenly all the swords redirected at him and hit him countless times.

They wouldn't stop attacking and eventually Rycu managed to grab one and he spun around in a spiral formation and broke all the swords to pieces. Erza looked at him in amazement, "His power truly is amazing, I can already tell he isn't ever using a tenth of his power and this making me on edge." Erza thought.

"Don't drift off during battle!" Rycu shouted, he charged at Erza and smashed her into the ground. Erza bounced back up like a ball and smashed Rycu in the face. Rycu held himself together and kicked Erza in the face and then punched her into a tree.

Erza switched to her armour with a shield. Rycu charged at her and punched against the shield but this time her didn't break it, probably because Erza has more control with it than when she was controlled.

Erza pushed Rycu back with the shield and kicked him into a tree, Rycu bounced off the tree and punched Erza through a couple of trees. They stopped and started to walk around a tree staring at each other.

They lost sight of each other for a split second then Rycu teleported, Erza swiped behind her to see if he was trying to pull the same trick but he jumped from above and smacked Erza into the ground.

Erza kicked her foot in the air but missed Rycu, Rycu grabbed her foot and let her dangle on it as she wiggled about. "I think I win," Rycu said. "Fine." Erza said with her arms crossed as Rycu carried her over still by her foot. "So you're next are you Natsu?" Rycu said. "Y-y-yes" Natsu stuttered in fear since he knew he was about to get destroyed by Rycu.

"I'm I hear in time to see Natsu get smashed?" Happy asked as he flew over. "I will win! Have some faith in me!" Natsu shouted. "Let's be honest, you just aren't strong enough to beat Rycu, scratch that you're not ever close to his power, look! Even Erza got smashed and we all know she's stronger than you." Happy said cheekily.

"What did you say!?" Natsu screamed and he started to burn flaming hot, he punched Happy straight into the ground, "Don't you ever say that!" Natsu screamed. "Aye…sir" Happy squeaked.

"I'm gonna smash you until you admit defeat!"


	34. The arrival

"I will win!" Natsu shouted in confidence.

"Let's get started," Rycu said. He walked over to a tree and hung Erza from a branch by her leg, "Het! Let me down!" Erza shouted. Rycu walked away while looking behind him with a giant smile on his face. Erza then got annoyed and just crossed her arms.

Rycu walked over to be face to face with Natsu, "Go!" Natsu shouted as he charged directly towards Rycu with a flaming trail following behind him. Natsu lit a flame in his hand and it started to grow larger as her ran.

Natsu kicked at Rycu near the head but Rycu ducked beneath it and blasted Natsu with fire, pushing him backwards. As Natsu fell backwards Rycu launched at him again and blasted him through the forest, easily knocking down multiple trees in their path.

As Rycu flew towards Natsu, Natsu kicked Rycu and smashed him into the tree behind them. Natsu roared at Rycu point blank and blasted him through multiple trees. Natsu lost sight on Rycu so he leaned up against a tree, on the other side of the tree Rycu leaned as well.

Rycu grabbed Natsu from the other side and smashed him through the tree, Rycu held Natsu in front of him, who was still in shock, and punched him down to the ground. From where the battle was taking both of them, Erza was still able to see both of them.

Natsu boosted through the air and punched Rycu upwards with him, while they were in the air they both grabbed each other's shoulders with a firm grip. Rycu kicked Natsu in the face which loosened the grip on his shoulders, Natsu let go of Rycu. As they both fell back to the floor Rycu repeatedly punched Natsu in the face and as they were about to hit the floor Rycu finished Natsu off by doing a large punch at his face which blasted him through the floor.

The punch Rycu had done made a large crater through the floor. Rycu saw Natsu launching up from the hole, Rycu jumped high in the air and collided fists with Natsu which had made the whole ground shake. Natsu laughed to himself, "Guess I'm finally at your level of power!"

"I'm not even giving it all my strength!" Rycu said. Rycu kicked Natsu in the stomach which flew him up in the air and smashed him into a tree. "I think I should start to use my magic, throughout this fight I've rarely used it." Rycu said.

He turned into a shadow a slithered under the shade of the tree, he jumped up from beneath Natsu and hit him forward. Rycu came out of his shadow form and switched to his poison claws, Rycu ran up to Natsu and swiped his claws inches from Natsu's face but Natsu leaned back and kicked him into the air.

As Natsu pulled his body back up, Rycu let out a giant roar towards Natsu and blasted Natsu's head across the floor and bumped into a tree. Happy flew over to Natsu's body, "Not to be rude but he destroyed you and he wasn't even using most of his power." Happy said.

"Do you still think you have enough strength to take on Erza?" Rycu asked. "Just give him a bit of time to recover. By the way can you please let me down!" Erza shouted. "Not yet!" Rycu said cheekily. Sometime later Natsu had finally recovered all of his magic, Rycu pull Erza own from the tree and she gave him a giant punch across his face and they prepared for the final fight of the day.

"Fight!" Rycu shouted and they both charged towards each other at lightning fast speeds, Natsu punched at Erza but his punch didn't even move her. When Natsu looked up Erza was in her fire empress armour and she swiped Natsu back.

"My armour isn't everything I have against you." Erza said. She rushed behind him and sliced at Natsu back which made him fall forward right where Erza wanted him. Natsu's vision was all blurry so he couldn't tell what was happening, Erza had changed to her heavens wheel armour and had surrounded Natsu with sword which all launched at him and repeatedly hit him.

Once Natsu came back to his senses, he let out a massive roar and he started bursting with very hot flames which melted all of the swords around him. Erza instead switched back to a very heavy sword, Natsu started to walk slowly towards Erza and he looked angry.

He all of a sudden launched and hit Erza into a tree, Erza looked at her chest and it had a red hot mark left to it. "You ok Erza?" Rycu shouted. "I'm fine!" Erza shouted back. Natsu launched again at Erza but after he past, he fell to the floor and looked at his chest, it had a red mark going down it.

"Now were even." Erza said. Natsu jumped up into the air and let out a giant roar at her but when he looked over again she was gone. The next second Erza appeared behind him and smashed him forward, she then dived at Natsu and kicked his body along the floor, then jumped above him and smashed him down through the floor.

Erza equipped her armour with her wings and flew up in the air, Natsu jumped up and hit Erza across the air but she dived back and sliced at Natsu once again. She juggled Natsu in the air with some sword slices, "Let's end it!" Erza shouted.

She appeared above Natsu and equipped her giant sword and gave one giant slice across Natsu and he smashed into the floor. "How'd you lose Natsu?" Rycu asked. "I don't think he is really at his full power right now." Erza said.

Suddenly there were three powerful strikes of lightning that hit all three of them, making them fall to the ground, barely hanging on from being unconscious.

"Those fight were quite impressive, but it's nothing compared to my power." A mysterious voice called.

"Who are you?" Erza demanded.

"I'm you worst nightmare, I am August."


	35. Torture

Natsu had already been knocked out by the fight against Erza, August walked over to Erza and kicked her in the face which knocked her out. Rycu couldn't move any of his body for some reason, probably because of a spell.

August walked off and carried Rycu along with him, "What do you want with me?" Rycu asked. "Something you're yet to understand." August said. "All I'll say is, your part of something special, I know you killed Acnologia and honestly I applaud you, I don't think even I could have done that, but that was the old me. The new me could take on an army of infinite men effortlessly."

"What did you do to my friends?" Rycu demanded. "I think in this situation you're not the one to order me about. I have left your friends though, they'll come to get you and I will make them perish by my hand." August said.

"I won't let you!" Rycu shouted. "What can you do? You're helpless in this situation. Don't worry though you will be leaving with your life, but you won't be the same Rycu you used to be." August said.

As August travelled around for a while, he uttered some magic words along the way, after a while August and Rycu had a yellow glow around both of them and it made them disappear into weird sort of temple. In front of August was a mysterious person, "So you were successful in retrieving him."

"I was." August replied. "Great, so now the fun for me begins." She said with a smile

August uttered a few magic words and Rycu started to fall asleep and he couldn't help it. "That will make this easier." August lifted Rycu around his shoulder. Back at where they had been wiped out Natsu and Erza woke up, "What happened? Where's Rycu?" Erza asked.

Natsu punched his fist into the floor, "That August guy took him from us, I don't know what he wants with him but it can't be good. We have to find him before the situation gets worse." Natsu said.

"We can't." Erza said as she held her head, "We aren't strong enough, we can't even make it back to the guild like this. We can only try and make it back to your house, I'm sure Rycu will be fine, he'll find a way to make it out."

When Rycu woke up again, he was lay on some weird machine, all his limbs were spread out and two wizards stood before him. They were August and Eileen, "So you finally woke up?" Eileen said. "What's happening to me?" Rycu asked.

"Don't worry, it won't take long but this'll be painful, that I can't lie." August said. Eileen walked up to Rycu's helpless body she put one of her fingers right in front of his eyes, her hand, her hands were wearing black gloves and they had sharp red claws on the end of the nails.

She moved her hands to his chest and scratched them along his body, "I like to have fun with my victims before we use them." Eileen said. "I'm guessing this will take a while so I will leave you him for a while." August said. "This'll hurt…a lot." Eileen said.

Eileen made her claws even sharper like knifes, she covered Rycu's mouth and started scratching her claws along his arm. "I know who you are, you're just like lady Erza, a Fairy Tail wizard. I don't like those stupid wizards but what I've seen from you so far, you're different. I might keep you as a prize for myself, you'll be fun to play with.

She started to sink her claws even deeper into his skin as she started to go along his other arms. "You are involved with Erza are you not? Your all part of the same guild, the stupid Fairy Tail. You should leave her alone I you know what's best for you, actually you're never seeing her again are you now, you're stuck with me from now on."

All the time Rycu couldn't say a thing because Eileen still had his mouth covered. She now finished scratching his other arm. She then made the claws even sharper and started scratching his chest, before she started she activated a spell which made him sensitive to pain.

She barely touched Rycu with one of her fingers and it felt like someone stabbed a sword through his chest. Eileen saw Rycu's face as it reflected pain, "I'm starting to hurt am I, well there is a lot more to come from me. We have a lot more fun to have." She started scratching his chest again. "I bet you wonder what we want with you, don't you?"

Rycu started to mumble because he tried to say something so Eileen moved her hand off his mouth, "I'll get out of here, you can't keep me here forever!" Rycu shouted. Eileen moved her hand back over his mouth, "I'll keep you here for as long as I wish and you can't escape, the rest of your life will be spent with me!" Eileen shouted.

She stabbed one of her claws into Rycu's skin and in Rycu's head he screamed in pain like no other. "Your friends can't find you, as August carried you here, he gave you a potion as you were passed out that makes It so your sent is impossible to pick up." Eileen looked up at Rycu's face and this time it reflected fear.

"There's no need to be afraid, I'll take good care of you." Eileen said.

Natsu and Erza made it back to Natsu's home, "We need some rest, we got destroyed in one attack by August and we can't make it to the guild." Erza said. "I couldn't pick up Rycu's sent back there so there is no way for us at all to find Rycu at this point, what kind of pain is he being put through, just stay strong Rycu." Natsu said.


	36. Takeover

"I think it's time we got this over with." August said as he walked in. Eileen removed her hand from Rycu's mouth but he didn't even dare to talk, August pulled out a curvy knife which was black at the end of it.

He walked up to Rycu and stabbed it into his heat but it didn't kill him, Rycu let out a scream of pain but managed to hold on. Rycu grew some black patterns along his arm that looked like a spiral dragon going up both of his arms.

"I'm done here, I leave you to do whatever you want with him for now." August said. "That would be my pleasure." Eileen said as she licked our lips, she walked up to Rycu again and covered his mouth. She started to scratch at Rycu's chest deep enough so it cut through his skin.

"Now that all of that is over with, I can do what I want with you now," Eileen said. Rycu pulled himself forward to try and break off the chains, "I wouldn't try that, these chains make it so you can't use your magic and they are unbreakable." Eileen said, "There's always punishment when you do something wrong."

Eileen stabbed all her claws on one hand into Rycu's chest and then put her hand over the wound August had made, when she moved her hand and started scratching, the wound had gone.

"You are great fun to play with, I hope you're enjoying this just as much as I am. I don't care if you haven't done anything to us, you're Fairy Tail's most powerful wizard so it only seemed right that we would use you for this and I think we made the right choice. Tell me, how do you feel being trapped here with me forever, knowing someone can't save you."

Rycu broke free of the chains and launched at Eileen. Eileen smashed Rycu in to floor with one finger, "I lie by the way those weren't the unbreakable ones, these were." Eileen said as she put Rycu's body back on the machine and made some chains appear. "Do you still no realise? Naughty people need to be punished," Eileen said.

Back at Natsu's house, Natsu and Erza had recovered enough energy to walk and run properly. "Right now we can go find Rycu!" Natsu said. "No we can't, we have to make it back to the guild and warn Makarov about what happened, he should be able to locate Rycu." Erza said.

Natsu and Erza started to run back to the guild and a fair amount of time later they had made it back to the guild. "Where's Makarov?" Erza said. "I'm over here," Makarov yelled. "I have extremely bad news." Erza said. "Well what is it then?" Makarov asked.

"Me, Natsu and Rycu were all out training and once we finished our fights we were low on magic energy and we all got hit by a strong attack out of nowhere. The person who did it was August and he knocked me out, when we woke up again, Rycu had gone and so did August."

"So you're suggesting he has been kidnaped by August?" Makarov asked. "Yes I am." Erza replied. "This is very bad news and I can guarantee you he won't be alone on this, I don't know who the other person may be. We aren't strong enough so forgive me when I say, we should leave Rycu for now, I'm sure he'll be fine for now so I'll try and locate his whereabouts for the mean time." When Makarov looked on his map it should have shown where Rycu was but he was nowhere to be seen.

"What?" Makarov said. "What is it?" Natsu asked. "Rycu isn't on the map at all." Makarov replied. Everyone had shocked face as they heard this. Natsu clenched his fist in anger, "They're doing something really bad to him," Natsu said.

Natsu stormed out of the guild hall on his own and went to the forest, "I don't know what sick things they're doing to you there, but stay strong, I'm on my way and I don't intend to give up to anyone."

Eileen repeated her sentence, "Bad boys need to be punished," she put her other arm over the guild mark and made it disappear, "I guess you're not in Fairy Tail anymore," Eileen made a whip appear in her other hand, she started to hit him with it every few second and still had one hand over his mouth.

"Forever." The words repeated in his empty mind over and over again, "Is this really my fate?" Rycu thought, "Stuck with Eileen and being tortured forever? Nobody can find me anymore so is this what I expect to live my life as, as a toy for her to play with."

Eileen could read his mind and knew what he was thinking, "We've delayed our attack till August, just so I can have more fun with you, so there's still another year to go." Eileen stopped whipping him, "Time for bed." She said, she held her hand out in front of him and he fell asleep.

"I can certainly see you're having fun with the victim." August said.

"He's very fun to mess with, what are you going to do in the meantime?" Eileen asked.

"I am going to train some more." August said.

"I will as well for a while, I'll leave him till the morning and then I'll lift the sleeping spell and then I'll get started with controlling the new magic."

"Good luck with that." August said.

"First there's another fairy I'd like to hunt but I won't bring him, I'll kill him." Eileen said.

Natsu was travelling around the forest looking for any other clues on Rycu's whereabouts. "Hello dearie." Someone said.

"Who are you and where are you?" Natsu shouted.

"I am the person who is looking after your friend." They said.

"Give him back to us!" Natsu shouted.

"Sorry darling but you won't get him back, my name is…Eileen."


	37. Darkness

"Where's Rycu!?" Natsu demanded. "Sorry, I don't answer to pests like you, he's ours to keep but I bet you'd like to see a view." Eileen said. She made a mysterious glass ball appear out of nowhere and it showed Rycu chained to a machine with all sorts of cuts and scratches on him.

"What have you been doing to him!" Natsu shouted. "You're just spoiling all of the enjoyment I get out of this so I'll end your life fast," Eileen could sense very strong magic power from Natsu but it didn't even make her worried in the slightest because she knew his carelessness would get the better of him.

Natsu sprinted towards Eileen and she raised up her hand and blocked it with no effort at all, "How?" Natsu thought. Natsu started to glow with sparks around him and he was blasted by a laser beam from the sky. Eileen had a massive smile on her face as Natsu struggled back to his feet.

"I can already tell you are not as powerful as your friend." Eileen said, "You'll regret saying that to my face!" Natsu shouted as he charged again at Eileen, she pointed her staff, that she had just made appear, forwards at Natsu and it launched a beam of energy which launched him back into a tree.

Erza had seen the beam of light when it was first launched from the sky and she started to run to where it was coming from. Natsu started to get angry, he jumped from tree to tree and eventually launched at Eileen again. Eileen faced him as he launched at her and she pulled out her claws which she stabbed into Natsu's body.

She dragged her claws down his chest and let go, Natsu looked at his chest and blood started dripping from it, "You are getting on my nerves!" Natsu shouted. "How do you think I feel having to deal with you, I could have more fun playing with your friend and moving on with our plan." Eileen said.

August had walked into the room that Rycu was still in, he had lifted the spell that Eileen had put on him and he was watching the fight as it had gone on. When August stabbed him with the knife, he was unleashing darkness throughout his body and it was changing him.

The darkness changed the way he thought, "Maybe Eileen does care for me and all this time she was just knocking out all the stupidity in me, maybe this is what I was created to do, maybe darkness has been in me all this time." Rycu thought.

Eileen knew that the darkness was getting further into his body and she knew what his mind made him think, "Yes, I do care for you darling, more than anyone else has ever done," Eileen thought.

"You're wasting all the time I could be having with my son!" Eileen shouted "Son?" Natsu thought as Eileen charged towards him and stabbed him through the centre of his chest. Erza had finally made it over to where the fight was happening and the first thing she saw was Eileen stabbing Natsu's unconscious body, Eileen let go of Natsu. Eileen recognised who it was immediately, it was Erza Scarlet, her other child.

Erza was about to speak but within a flash Eileen had hold of Erza and was lifting her up by her neck. Erza was trying to attack Eileen but she was rapidly losing magic energy because Eileen absorbed it all.

Eileen put Erza's now unconscious back on the floor, "You can keep your life for now salamander, I have some business to settle with you after." Eileen looked towards Erza "Why couldn't of you been more like your brother, you're just pathetic and useless to me but I need Rycu in perfect shape so I can't do something like this now."

Eileen circled their body's with unbreakable chains and held them together, she gagged both of their mouths and teleported the with her to somewhere. The whole area around them was nothing and beneath them was just a bottomless pit.

They were on a very small rock that had a cell on it, she put both of them in the cell and chained them to the floor. Eileen closed the cell, she put an enchantment on the cell door so it couldn't be opened and it was unbreakable.

Eileen teleported back to where Rycu was and she was holding a whip, "Play time," Eileen said. August walked out of the room and as he passed Eileen he said, "Good job on capturing the other two."

"What have you done to-" Rycu was saying before Eileen covered his mouth, "Shh." Eileen said, "How many time have I told you to be quiet. So I can enjoy myself while I do this to you, this is nothing personal, it's just for fun."

She whipped Rycu with so much force that his vision started to blur and his eyes squinted. Eileen shock his head to wake him back up, "I'm sure you can last longer than this." She gave Rycu a giant slap and repositioned her hand over his mouth.

"Time to do what I'm supposed to do." Eileen put her other hand in front of Rycu's chest and something was building up inside him. "I need you to concentrate on all the hate and anger building up in your body and use it for power."

Rycu couldn't control himself everything that came to his mind was all the times they had abandoned him and said horrible things about him. A power started to rise rapidly inside of Rycu, "That's very good." Eileen said, "Keep going."

Rycu still couldn't control himself, all things he could think of were sadness, depression and anger, all the times everyone had come against him were all coming together. "This is perfect, your power is quickly rising," Eileen said.

Rycu's eyes filled with darkness and his power went extremely high with no effort, everything happened so fast and then it abruptly stopped. Rycu's eyes turned back to normal and he felt fine.

"Your darkness is amazing, I know what to do with you."


	38. This means war

Eileen put Rycu back to sleep for a while because she wanted to plan out what to do with him. "I was watching," August said, "his power of darkness is amazing he will be incredible.

Natsu and Erza had finally woken up in their cell, "What the hell's happening!" Natsu shouted as he lit himself up with fire. "Stop that!" Erza said. "Where the hell are we?" Natsu asked. "We're in a cell that is in someone's mind, it has to be because there's nothing other than this cell." Erza said.

"When you were defeated that person ran into me and took me out as well, she teleported us here, wherever that is, and then she chained us up together and chained us to the floor." Erza said. "Her name is Eileen and she's getting on my nerves. Natsu said.

Eileen had suddenly teleported outside of the gate, "Hello Natsu and Erza, finally woke up have you?" "Let us go!" Erza shouted. "I'd like to tell you a few things first, if you do what I say you'll leave here unhurt. First though I should ask you something, who is your mother?" Eileen asked.

Eileen had blocked out Natsu's voice and hearing, "I don't know who my mum is, she abandoned me while I was young." Erza said. "That's funny, because I am your mother." Eileen said. Erza was shocked, "That's a lie!" Erza shouted and leaned towards the cage.

Eileen opened up the cage door and walked up to Erza, Eileen then gave her a giant slap across the face. Erza stopped saying anything. "Now that is out the window I need you to say something for me, I want you to say, Rycu means nothing to us he's just an obstacle in our way." Eileen asked.

"Never!" Erza shouted. "This is perfect, now I can do this the hard way which for me is the best way." Eileen pulled out a whip and smacked Erza and Natsu with it, she repeatedly did it. Eileen kicked them over to the floor and stood on Erza with all her body weight.

"Will you say it or not?" Eileen asked. "I'll never say it!" Erza said. "You know, you two aren't as fun to play around with but Rycu is so much fun to mess with. "You leave Rycu alone!" Erza shouted.

"Then I'll force you to," Eileen said. She pointed her finger at Erza and she made the words come out her mouth. "Rycu means nothing to us he's just an obstacle in our way," Erza said. Now I don't have any use for you so you can go cry in your beds.

Eileen touched Natsu and he disappeared, the chains around Natsu wrapped tighter around Erza, Eileen put her hand over Erza's mouth and pinched her nose so she couldn't breathe. "You on the other hand, I need one more thing off of you, but I'm afraid you can't be awake and like I said before, I like doing things the hard way."

Ezra couldn't breathe, every second her vision got darker and her eyes rapidly went up and down. It felt horrible, she wanted to take a breath but she couldn't, she tried to open her mouth for even small drops of air but her mouth was held tight together.

Eventually her vision blacked out completely and she passed out, Eileen rolled her on her back and engraved a message on her. Eileen couldn't teleport her back for a while so she tied her hands together and her legs then put a gag in her mouth.

Eileen left and replaced the enchantments, she teleported herself back to Rycu and did the same thing as last time. She lifted the enchantment off of Rycu and he woke up again, she covered his mouth with her hand and use the other to control the darkness within him.

She made him think of the same things as last time, all the times his friends went against him, Eileen had recorded what Erza said with some weird magic that barely anyone knows about. She played what Erza said into Rycu's mind and he heard it, "Rycu means nothing to us he's just an obstacle in our way." He heard Erza say.

He heard these words and he shattered to pieces, suddenly all of his emotions came rushing at the same time, he felt sadness, anger and depression all at once and it made his power get an extreme, permanent boost. His magical presence was at the level of August's and Eileen's.

Eileen stopped the spell just in case she caused more damage to him, August and Eileen looked at each other in amazement. "He's power now is at our level for certain." August said.

"I can feel all sorts of magic energy rushing through me," Rycu huffed and puffed. "You can have yourself a well-deserved break." Eileen said as she put him to sleep. "I'll be back soon." Eileen said as she teleported to Erza.

Eileen changed the message on Erza's back and teleported her into the centre of the guild hall. A portal opened in the guild hall, Erza and Natsu's body's both dropped out of it, Natsu body didn't make it before because Eileen made it so if she sent one off it would have to wait for the other.

"What is this?" Makarov said in shock. Gray walked over to their body's and said, "It's Natsu and Erza, they've both been beaten pretty bad and Erza has a message on her back which says, Dear Fairy Tail members, we now are in complete control of Rycu and his magical power has been increased to level of August's"

Everyone was shocked, "August's level, and they are in control of him!" Makarov said worriedly. Gray continued, "Our battle will be next year in August and if you wish of saving Rycu, there is no hope for you."

"They can't just take one of our own and turn him against us! This is war! Get Natsu and Erza to the beds and everyone train there very damn hardest." Makarov shouted.

"This just got personal."


	39. The beginning of the end

Over the year gap both sides increased in strength immensely, August helped Rycu learn some other magic that he would be able to use. Throughout the time though, Rycu was continuously tortured by Eileen which helped him increase his darkness magic.

Rycu knew all the torture was very painful but it helped him to become stronger and his hate towards Fairy Tail grew more and more stronger and one day while Eileen was torturing him he uttered the words, "Fairy Tail must be wiped out." Eileen stopped whipping him.

August looked over to see Rycu and the darkness flooding him, August and Eileen both pulled giant smiles on their faces. "He's ready." Eileen said. For the rest of the year, until August, they all got rapidly stronger.

Eventually Eileen told Rycu, "Rycu I know this may sound crazy but, I'm your mother and Erza is you sister, let me explain, I was your parent until I found the dragon Acrilla and we gave him to you so he could raise you to help you learn to handle all the dragonslayer magic."

Rycu didn't care if she was evil, she was still his mother, when Acrilla had told him he was given to him by his parents so from there on Rycu always wondered who his parents were. Were they out there still? He now knew the truth and he was finally reunited with her.

Rycu gave Eileen a hug and almost started to cry but all his tears had already been shed, from there on they continued to do the torturing but it was not personal like she said once before. It was for power.

At the guild Natsu and Erza had recovered from before and had been training as hard as ever, all the time they thought about Rycu and all the pain they put him through by leaving him to Eileen and August and now they had to fight against him.

Erza thought he'd stay strong and she knew he did for as long as he could but it wasn't enough to hold back. Natsu had beat himself up every day knowing he could have stopped it from happening.

He was just hoping he never gave up on them, Natsu had learnt some new dragonslayer attacks, Gray could make more advanced items out of ice and Laxus could change his lightning so they each had different effects on the enemy. Gajeel could make his iron into the steel and had new uses for it.

When the day of the fight come August, Eileen and Rycu made way to the guild hall where everyone was waiting outside. "Ready darling?" Eileen asked. "I'm fine what about you August?" Rycu asked. "I feel fine pummelling these stupid fairies will be more fun than challenging." August said.

They all met face to face, Natsu and Rycu both stood out of their lines and stared at each other, Rycu now had some black marks going down his right eye. "It's been too long." Rycu said. "It sure has but what happened to you?" Natsu asked.

"What you expect me to be trapped in the middle nowhere, being tortured every day and come out the same? Let me show you something." Rycu said. He pulled up his sleeve and showed Natsu the black spiral dragon on his arm.

"What is that?" Natsu asked. "It's the black spiral dragon, it's new attack. Right, I've talked too much let's start it off me vs you." Rycu said. "Be careful Natsu, he's changed." Erza said. Rycu stepped back and used his spiral dragon attack, out of Rycu's arm came a black spiral dragon and it pushed Natsu back.

As Natsu landed Rycu smashed Natsu head first through the floor. Rycu appeared behind him and attacked, Natsu turned around and hit him. "Nice Natsu!" Gray said. "Not so fast." Rycu said. As Natsu hit him it faded into thin air and Rycu came out of nowhere and kicked Natsu in the chest.

"Now he has clones?!" Erza said worriedly. When Natsu landed back on his feet suddenly he couldn't see anything, "What happened to my vision?" Natsu said. Rycu almost fell to the floor in laughter, I can't believe you did that, my clones are cursed so whenever you hit the fake me you're blinded for a few minutes.

"That's a dirty move!" Gray shouted. "What do you want to take me on next ice pants." Rycu said. "Shut your mouth!" Gray shouted as he charged at Rycu, Rycu grabbed Gray's arm and swung him into Natsu. "Sorry Natsu." Gray said as he bounced off Natsu and jumped back at Rycu.

Rycu grabbed Gray's fist and crushed it and smashed him into a stone wall. "We may not have to do anything." Eileen said. "I hate to be cocky but that's true." August said. "Who's next?" Rycu asked. "I should teach you to shut your mouth." Gajeel said as he stepped out to fight.

Gajeel use his club to hit Rycu but it didn't even move him an inch, Gajeel then launched forward in his steel armour and punched at Rycu. Rycu punched at Gajeel's fist head on and he broke his armour in one effortless punch. Rycu pulled Gajeel up by his hair and swung him into Natsu again.

"Just how strong has Rycu become through that year gap." Erza thought. "I never knew that he had this much power inside of him." August said. "What have they done to Rycu?" Erza thought.

"Anyone else ready to fight? How about you, Erza Scarlet? Or should I say sister?" Rycu said. "Excuse me?" Erza said angrily. "You are the younger daughter of Eileen and I am the older brother. Before you were born, I was there and Eileen gave me to the dragon Acrilla so I could handle my dragonslayer powers. Then you were born and I wasn't there to look after you." Rycu explained.

Erza stood there in shock then she snapped and launched at Rycu, "That's not true!" "Sorry about this." Rycu said and he punched Erza into the ground and her body slid through the floor.

All four of them stood up together and looked ready for another round.

"Guess I better start taking this seriously." Rycu said and his left eye turned blue.


	40. Demonic power

"This can't be good." Erza thought. "I see so he's using this attack now?" Eileen said. Rycu moved his cape away for a second so they could see what happened over that year. They were all horrified by the sight of it, he had countless whip marks over his body and hundreds of cuts.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Erza said. Rycu put his cape back on so the cuts and whip marks weren't visible anymore. "Shut up." Rycu said. "No more talking, the point is, is that I was left to them. I found out my truth, what happened all throughout that one year of being whipped and cut. It changed me."

"Day after day the darkness inside of my body started to grow, and the reason it started to grow was because of you lot giving up on finding me, you thought that being left alone to be tortured with no friends to save you would keep me ok? Well it didn't. I've gone too far to turn back, I can't even change myself if I tried." Rycu said.

"Rycu you can still stop this!" Erza shouted. Rycu lifted up his hand in the shape of gun and shot it at Erza, an energy beam shot from his hand and hit Erza onto the floor. "You'll pay for that!" Natsu shouted.

Rycu made his left eye shine, when it shined a pools worth of water crashed down on them. Rycu ran up to Natsu and punched him into the wall, Erza had managed to get up, she swung one of her heavy swords at Rycu's back but it broke when it hit him.

Rycu turned his head around and looked at Erza, Erza looked directly into his eyes and she could tell all the darkness had spread throughout his body, all the good memories they had with Rycu had been coved with the darkness. She felt responsible, she left him to be tortured for a year and never attempted to save him.

Rycu punched Erza so hard it smashed her through multiple concrete buildings and it knocked her out cold. Natsu grabbed Rycu's arm and swung him behind him, Rycu held on tight to his hand and flipped Natsu over his head and smashed him into the floor.

Natsu punched at Rycu with his lightning flame dragon and it pushed back a bit. Gray stood behind him and made branch of roses launch at him, Rycu broke all of them with his own hands, when he broke through them he kicked Gray in the face and jumped at Gajeel.

Rycu punched Gajeel and landed back on his two feet, perfectly fine. Gajeel used his club but Rycu avoided it, Rycu grabbed Gajeel's club and swung him into Natsu. All of them had been knocked out cold.

Wendy was about to run out to heal them but then Rycu noticed her and he roared at her furiously which blasted her into the wall. "Is this all I get for a fight? I didn't have to use even an inch of my power. I expect at least more of a fight." Rycu said.

"Hey, that's not the whole fight you know." Natsu said as he stood up. The sky had now turned to night time and the whole town evacuated. Natsu roared at Eileen and it pushed her back and made her hit a wall.

Rycu had a sudden rush of anger, "You want to play it that way then?!" Rycu grabbed Lucy who was in the crowd, he smashed her into the floor and stomped on her body. "Lucy!" Natsu shouted and suddenly demonic power was rising in Natsu.

Natsu's hands changed to black claws and his body was leant over, "What is that?" Erza shouted who had got up and crawled over. "It's his E.N.D form, one of the most powerful demons from the book of Zeref," Rycu said.

"Demon?" Erza said shockingly. "Yes and I have that power too." Rycu said. Just like Natsu he changed his hands to black claws and he was leant over but Rycu had black wings sprouting from his back.

"This should be a very interesting fight." Eileen said. "This can't be good, a battle between two powerful demons." Erza thought.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Natsu said. Both of their eyes turned black, "They can't reason anymore one of them will die for certain." August said.

Both of them charged at each other and they swiped at each other's face, Rycu grabbed Natsu's arm and cut his claws down it.

"I've changed my mind," Rycu said. "We can settle our score later but I need to this fast." Rycu jumped up in the air and let out a giant roar that hit everyone except for Eileen and August. They all fell to the floor in pain, "I think my job's done here." Rycu said.

"Not yet!" Natsu shouted in a demonic voice and launched up at Rycu. Natsu held onto Rycu and head butted him, Rycu grabbed Natsu's head and threw it down on the floor. Rycu landed back on the floor and they stared at each other with their demonic eyes.

"Look what you've become Rycu and all the harm you brought to everyone else, why are you doing this to yourself!" Natsu shouted. Erza was still conscious and watched them. Rycu felt some pain in his head and he grabbed it, for a second Natsu and Erza saw his eyes change colour and they then saw a vision in their heads.

They saw Rycu when he was stabbed with the blade of darkness and when it started to spread throughout his body. "So no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't have been able to avoid this happening to him. He's still inside there, fighting away the darkness." Erza thought.

Rycu's eyes changed back to black and he stood up again as if nothing had happened to him.

"What are you staring, at let's cut to the chase, I'd much like to see you die now."


	41. The Scarlet Despair

Rycu and Natsu stared at each other with their pitch black eyes. They pounced at each other with their black claws, Natsu scratched at Rycu's cut eye and made the cut larger. Rycu grabbed Natsu by the neck and held him down on the floor as he stabbed one of his claws into Natsu's eye. "Now we're even!" Rycu said.

"They're showing absolutely no mercy towards each other, by the time they'll be done with each other they'll be missing most of their limbs!" Erza thought. "Stop this you two!" Erza shouted to them.

Both of them looked at Erza with a blank look on their face, the looked away and continued to fight, both their hands grabbed the others and they pushed against the others. Natsu kicked Rycu off of him and roared a giant fire ball.

Rycu used his very own hands and split apart the fire ball into pieces, Rycu dashed towards him with his claws at the ready. Rycu scratched Natsu along the cheek and it made black blood start to drip from him.

Natsu felt the blood with his hand but it felt just like normal blood and moved around just like blood. Natsu was so interested in his black blood that he didn't notice Rycu, Rycu grabbed Natsu's wrist and smashed him into the wall.

Rycu had realised he can still use a part of his magic so he lit his fist with black fire, the fire that Rycu had lit in his hand was like a black fire with red sparks of fire coming out of it. Rycu put his two hand together and he launched out his black spiral dragon but it also had sparks of fire coming for it.

Natsu punched the dragon in the centre of its head and stopped it, the other parts of the dragon detached and looped around Natsu to hit him. The dragon suddenly split into millions of pieces around Natsu.

All the pieces circled around Natsu and a giant black beam struck down and launched Natsu into the air. As Natsu was in the air Rycu jumped up to him and smashed him down with both of his hands.

When Rycu landed back on the floor his eyes turned into blood red and his claws grew larger, Natsu stayed the same and stared at Rycu emotionlessly and he charged at Rycu. Rycu sliced at Natsu's leg which made him fall over.

Rycu stood on Natsu's head, slowly crushing it into the ground. "Had enough fun yet?" Rycu asked. "Not at all!" Natsu shouted as he grabbed Rycu's foot and used it to swipe Rycu's body along the floor and smash it into the wall.

Natsu grabbed Rycu by neck ad lifted him up, he used his claws and cut his neck, Rycu's body fell to the ground lifeless with bloody dripping down from his neck. "Rycu!" Erza shouted. August and Eileen just laughed, "Did you forget?" Rycu said.

"I have my clones!" Rycu shouted as he came out of nowhere and knocked Natsu to the ground. Rycu punched and scratched Natsu repeatedly and smashed his body with a giant punch through the floor. "I think there's a clear winner." Eileen said.

Rycu raised his hand ready to end Natsu's life until he heard Erza say, "Wait Rycu! Don't do this!" A shadow appeared around Rycu and it started to follow his every action that he did. Rycu looked at Erza with a confused look and the charging of his attack slowed down.

"I know deep down there you're fighting away the darkness but you have to fight as hard as you've ever done!" Erza shouted. "I'll shut her up." Eileen said. "I'm sure you can remember all the good times we had, the times we fought together." Erza said.

A blue aura appeared around Rycu and Erza could hear Rycu's voice in her head. "Erza, I can't control myself! I can't stop myself, the darkness is too powerful!" Erza heard. "Keep pushing against it!" Erza shouted to Rycu.

Eileen walked up to Erza and covered her mouth so she couldn't shout anything else to Rycu, she used her other hand to start strangling her and she had a giant smile on her face. "Shut your mouth, you're a worthless brat, this won't change anything!"

Erza's vision started to black out and eventually it did, once Eileen had knocked out Erza she put chains round her arms and legs then gagged her mouth. "You hold her, we're taking her with us." Eileen said.

Rycu finally launched his attack and it hit something, when they could see them Rycu had hit the ground and he looked normal again and heavily breathing. Rycu stood up and what he was facing was, himself.

In front of Rycu was a version of him but he was all dark with red eyes. "How!" Eileen said. "He separated his body from the darkness! Actually this will be fun, seeing Rycu fight himself, if he loses all the darkness will go back in his body and if he wins the darkness will disappear completely, then we'll have to put the darkness back in his body."

"Leave Erza then we'll go peacefully and you can do whatever you want with me." Rycu said. "How many times have I told you this? I always, like doing things the hard way." Eileen said. Rycu looked at his dark version of himself, he felt no pain and he showed no emotion what so ever.

"August, you take Erza back to the room and get her ready, I'll see this play out and I'll bring Rycu back with me and then we'll put the darkness back inside of him." Eileen said. August muttered the few magic words and he disappeared.

"You have no way of winning Rycu, even if you get past the dark version of yourself, you'll have to get through me as well besides, I'm your only way on saying Erza." Eileen said. Rycu pulled an angry look on his face.

"Bow down before me! For I am the scarlet despair!"


	42. Light vs Dark

"The Scarlet despair." Rycu thought, "I'm sure I've heard of that nickname before but that doesn't matter this moment. Right now I'm fighting myself, I've lost my darkness magic but I've still kept the magic August taught me, he probably only has darkness magic and that's it."

They both lit a flame in their hand, Rycu's hand had a bright natural flame and the imposter's was a black flame. They both launched at each other and punched their counterparts in the face which pushed both of them back.

As Rycu fell back he grabbed the arm of the dark version of him and smashed him into the wall. The dark Rycu put his two hands together and twisted the around like a spiral repeatedly and it was launching out infinite numbers of dark spiral dragons.

All of the black spiral dragons were blasting off everywhere and was destroying everything in their path effortlessly. They all of a sudden directed at him and thousands of them shot out a laser.

All of the laser beams hit Rycu at once and it blasted him through multiple stone buildings, Rycu jumped off one of the buildings and launched back through them all, Rycu was glowing with bright flames, all of the spiral dragons that came towards him melted to nothing.

"What?" Eileen thought, "he melted the dragons with his heat alone!" As Rycu got close to his counter-part, the dark Rycu put up a shield but Rycu broke through it then he made a blast of dark energy come out of him but it had no effect on Rycu.

Rycu punched the imposter in the face and it launched him into a building. Rycu had an angry look on his face and he was walking towards the dark version of himself, as he walked he made the ground shake.

The dark Rycu stood up and his eyes glowed red, suddenly Rycu had a pain over his heart and he fell to the floor while holding his hand over it. "That's where August stabbed you with the darkness, so now you separated yourself from it, the darkness can control your pain from the place August stabbed you." Eileen said.

Rycu managed to withstand the pain and get up, "I don't care about pain, I am always gonna stand through it till the bitter end." Rycu said to Eileen. The dark Rycu dashed towards Rycu and sliced across his chest.

The dark Rycu went to do it again but as he sliced past Rycu grabbed its arm and stopped it and then Rycu started to glow yellow. "I guess you forgot as well," Rycu said. Eileen pulled a confused look on her face, "Forgot what exactly?" Eileen asked.

"That darkness has its own weaknesses," Rycu said. "And what is darkness's weakness then?" Eileen asked. "It's weakness is light!" Rycu shouted. Rycu switched to his light magic and went dragon force so it'd be at its full power.

The dark Rycu could change into dragon force as well, the dark Rycu had a larger black aura around him and he punched at Rycu. Rycu raised his guard and blocked its attack and when he put his guard down again he gave dark Rycu a giant punch which launched him through more buildings.

The dark Rycu flashed his eyes again but this time the pain had no effect on him, Rycu walked up to the dark Rycu and picked him up and then threw him into the wall. The dark Rycu started to struggle to get up, Rycu walked over to its body and smashed it in the floor.

The dark Rycu stood up and smashed Rycu in the face which launched him back outside where they had wrecked most of the town, most of the buildings were shattered on the floor. Natsu had woken up halfway through the fight and started to crawl over to them.

They both stood opposite staring deeply into each other eyes waiting for the next attack, a giant white flame grew in Rycu's hand and a giant black flame was growing on the other Rycu's hand.

The flames in both their hands kept growing larger and the tail of the fire was as tall as they were. They both finally launched at each other, Rycu's white flame left a trail behind him and so did dark Rycu's.

Both of their fist collided in the air and both of their flames grew larger and so did the trail, the flame in both of their hands grew into giant flames that covered both of their whole body. The trail of the fire was long and flickered like an actual fire.

Natsu was amazed by the site of it, from his view he saw two giant balls of fire colliding, one white, one black and in the centre of it all was both of the Rycu's. Both of them were letting out giant roars of anger at each other and they kept pushing against each other.

After a while it all ended with a giant gold explosion that blasted both of them far away from each other and blasted them through multiple buildings each. When Rycu got up he could barely stand, he stumbled towards the dark Rycu's body and he saw it was slowly disappearing, fading away.

"Congratulations, Rycu, you rid the darkness that was left in you, shame that you wasted all your magic so now you're at my mercy once again." Eileen said. Eileen chained his arms and legs behind his back so he was as useless as a worm.

"First I'd like to do something though," Eileen said. She walked over to Natsu weak and fragile body and dragged it over to where Rycu was laying. "How would you like to have front row seats to the death of one of your friends." Eileen pulled out a knife and put it under Natsu's neck.

"Help…" Natsu whispered. "Leave him alone!" Rycu shouted. "I show no mercy." Eileen said.

Eileen was about to cut Natsu's neck but Rycu pushed himself forward and knocked Eileen away from Natsu by hitting her in the chest head first. "I see how it is." Eileen said. Eileen lifted up Rycu's head by the hair and smashed it into the floor.

"I'll leave you for now because I need to take Rycu back immediately but this'll be the last time your life will be spared by me." Eileen said as she stomped on his head. She lifted up Rycu's unconscious body and lifted him over her shoulder.

"I have to deal with my children first."


	43. It's not over yet

As Eileen walked away with Rycu over her shoulder, she looked back at the town and it was completely destroyed with Fairy Tail member's bodies everywhere. "This isn't our last fight, Fairy Tail." Eileen whispered.

As Eileen was walking away, her and Rycu faded away back to the room where Rycu had been tortured. Erza had seen the whole fight happen from start to finish through August's magic ball.

Erza was strapped to the machine that Rycu had been on most of the time, when Eileen teleported back she had Rycu over her shoulder and dumped his body on the floor next to her, then she said, "I have him."

"I trusted you would retrieve him, what do you plan to do with him now?" August asked. Eileen made another machine appear and chained Rycu's body onto it, "We'll sort him out later, first, we can have a little fun with lady Erza."

Eileen walked up to Erza and removed her gag, "Let us go!" Erza shouted, Eileen punched Erza across her face. "Shut your mouth, it's time to have a little fun with you, this is what you deserve for messing with your brother's poor mind." Eileen said. "I'm going to enjoy every last one of you screams!" Eileen shouted with a smile.

Eileen pulled out a whip but it was different to the one she had always used on Rycu, this one was longer and it had electric running through it, "You are nowhere near the power of your brother, you're no use for me but because you messed with Rycu's mind, I'll have to punish you!" Eileen shouted.

Eileen repeatedly whipped Erza with the electric whip and every time she hit Erza the smile on her face grew even larger. Erza let out screams of pain, every time Erza screamed, Eileen moaned as if she was getting some satisfaction out of it.

All Eileen did was slap, scratch and whip Erza for five minutes and Erza's body was all beaten and scratched with red marks all over it. "So this is what Rycu went through for a whole year," Erza thought.

Erza's face was looking down at the floor and then Eileen grabbed her face and redirected it to look at her, "Don't pass out yet because there's a lot more to come!" Eileen blindfolded Erza and started digging her claws through her skin as she dragged them along.

"You were an annoying child to handle, all you did was cry all day. After I sent Rycu away I felt so empty but it was something that I had to do to protect him. Then you came along, I never wanted you and I never asked for you, all you did was build the darkness in me and when I found dark magic I abandoned you and focused on it."

Erza was lost for words, everything became so clear to who now, she knew Eileen was her mother, through all the pain, she finally knew who her mother was but she was evil and she couldn't let her interfere any longer.

Eileen gave Erza a giant punch in the stomach were all the scratches were then removed Erza's blindfold. "I'm done with you for now," Eileen said. Rycu had started to gain consciousness again and he looked to the left and saw Erza all beaten.

"Erza?" Rycu said. As soon as he said the words Eileen gave him a slap across the face. "Get to work August." Eileen said. August walked up to Rycu again and stabbed the curvy knife into Rycu's heart again and all the darkness started to spread again.

"Rycu?" Erza asked as she saw him looking down to the floor, Eileen punched her in the face and grabbed her hair then said, "There's nothing you can do the darkness is spreading through his body, now be a good girl and shut up!"

Rycu looked up with a smile on his face, he coughed up some blood but then some black blood spilled out of the wound over his heart. Eileen looked in shock, "He forced the darkness out of himself?"

"These tricks aren't going to work anymore, darkness is no longer a part of me." Rycu said. Eileen walked up to Rycu and grabbed his neck and started strangling him, Rycu looked at Eileen deep in the eye, "Do it." Rycu said.

Eileen backed off of Rycu in shock, she had no other words to say to Rycu. She put both of them back to sleep and looked at her shaking hands, "What's wrong?" August said. "Nothing." Eileen said as she managed to stop her hands from shaking any more.

She managed to snap out of whatever was happening to her and said, "We're going back to the Fairy Tail guild and we are going to kill every last one of them that's there." "Should we not wait for a while?" August said.

"We're going now!" Eileen demanded as she teleported both of them away to just outside Magnolia. Back at the guild Natsu had managed to pull himself together and he stood up on his two shaking legs.

He looked at his hands which were shaking with fear, "I'm pathetic, I couldn't do a thing, all I did was get my ass handed to me the whole time they were here." Natsu thought as he managed to stand up properly.

"I even managed to lose Erza so now both of them are in the hands of those two lunatics, Eileen and August. I've got to save them before they both get absorbed by the darkness again, I can't let this happen to them!" Natsu said as he crushed his fist into the ground.

Natsu looked all around him, "Everyone had been taken out so easily, they didn't even get a chance to defend themselves from them. If I want to attack them I need to take this," Natsu said as he pulled out the pills from Edolas.

There were only three pills left, so he had to use them wisely, he took one of the pills and put the rest away. As he got his magic energy back he felt good as new, in the distance he saw two figures approaching him.

They were Eileen and August.


	44. Natsu vs August

Natsu watched them as they walked to him and his scarf flew through the wind, when they reached each other they stared each other in the face, "Where's Rycu and Erza!" Natsu demanded to Eileen.

"Why would you be interested in them right now, isn't getting rid of us your number one priority, don't you want to protect your other friends, or do you just not care for them?" Eileen said.

Natsu gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, "My friends are my number one priority, so where are you?" Natsu said angrily, "Unless you'd like me to beat you up until there's nothing left of you."

"If you insist," Eileen said and she tapped her staff on the ground which made Rycu and Erza's unconscious bodies appear and fall straight to the ground. Natsu rushed to their bodies and saw Erza, she had so many cuts, bruises and whip lashes.

Natsu jerked a tear and it fell on top of Erza's cheek and flowed down it, he was so shocked just by the sight of it. "Run, away, Natsu." Erza whispered. Rycu pushed his body up but Eileen stamped on his head. "Hey!" Natsu shouted.

August walked up to Natsu and lifted him up by his neck, Natsu kicked August's face and then August punched his body along the floor. "I'll handle this mischievous one," August said.

"You're not going to hurt them anymore!" Natsu shouted as he punched August but it didn't even make him move. August grabbed Natsu's arm and threw him into the floor, Natsu jumped up and punched August in the face which pushed him back a bit.

Natsu ran up to August and used his claw attack on August but he dodged out the way and grabbed Natsu's hand, "Pathetic," August said and he crushed Natsu's arm, breaking the bone immediately.

Natsu moved back, grabbing his arm, Natsu screamed in pain and pressured his arm. August walked up to him once again and punched him across the face which nearly broke Natsu's jaw.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a wizard!" August said. Natsu looked at August in anger, Natsu let out all his anger at once and his whole body lit with fire. Natsu jumped above August and smashed him into the ground.

"I don't care if you're are the so called king of magic, you're not gonna mess with us any longer." They both punched at each other and Natsu knocked August back then followed up by kicking him in the head.

"You're starting to get annoying." August said. "I haven't used any of my power, I know every type of magic and how to counter every type!" August pushed his hand forward and a blast of water came out and soaked Natsu.

Natsu shook all of the water off and launched at August, "I can nullify all the magic you use," August said. The flame that was in Natsu's hand suddenly disappeared and when Natsu punched August in the face it felt like someone through a pebble at his face.

"That's a dirty trick you have their," Natsu said and he charged at August at full force once again. "I can also control your magic so I can do anything with it," August said. Natsu's fist was lit with fire and so it turned on him and hit himself in the face.

"So you're forcing me to fight you with no magic!" Natsu said. "And the nail in the coffin is that I can still use magic against you!" August exclaimed. "That doesn't matter to me," Natsu said, "because my fists are just as powerful!" Natsu shouted.

Natsu jumped to August and punched him across the face and while August was open to an attack, Natsu shouted, "Fire dragon phoenix flame!" A large flame phoenix appeared behind Natsu and when Natsu roared fire at August it was five times as large and as powerful.

The flames that Natsu roared at August hit him and hurt his whole body, but August started to walk towards Natsu, walking through Natsu's flames. The closer that August got to Natsu, the harder Natsu roared.

Just as August was about to reach out and grab Natsu, Natsu stopped roaring and held his fist ready to punch. All the fire that Natsu had roared at August absorbed into Natsu fist. Natsu's fist was glowing yellow, orange and red and the magical force it held was unimaginable.

Natsu punched August in the face with it, his fist let out a giant fire laser that rivalled the size of Acnologia's and it blasted out his fist for ten seconds and August took every single hit. The power behind the attack was at the level of Acnologia's laser beam that destroyed an entire island.

August blasted back and fell to the floor while Natsu kept on huffing and puffing, Eileen had seen the attack and she was amazed by the power behind it, "Maybe we underestimated Natsu's power, he just managed to heavily damage August." Eileen thought.

"But it's still not enough to take down the king of all magic," Eileen thought as she pulled a wicked smile. August's body twitched and he stood up, the damage Natsu had caused with that attack had wiped out half of the whole city but it only left a few scratches on August.

"I must say, that was an amazing attack, well played, but it's time to end this," August said as he stood up. Natsu's jaw dropped because he was so shocked, "He took a hit like that and thought it was nothing!"

August grabbed Natsu and picked him up, he got ready to punch Natsu with enough force to kill him instantly. Natsu looked over and saw Rycu's body moving a bit and saw Rycu stretch out his hand to signal Natsu.

Natsu pulled the pills that restore magic energy out of his pocket and dropped the bottle gently on the floor then kicked it across to Rycu. "One pill left," Rycu thought as he opened the bottle and took one of the pills.

Rycu put the bottle away, he felt all his magic come back, he pushed himself off of the floor and kicked Eileen off of him. No one had seen him take the pill except Natsu so everyone was in shock.

"I'll handle him," Eileen said, "I've been waiting for a chance to beat some sense into him." "I'll hold onto Natsu so once you beat Rycu up we can kill him right in front of him." "I know how strong you are Rycu so that's why I'm not holding back the whole way through." Eileen said.

Eileen's body started to change, just like Acnologia, she changed into a dragon.


	45. The Fairy And The Dragon

Eileen grew just like everyone else who turned into a dragon did, she grew scales with sharp fangs and claws with bright yellow eyes. She was just smaller than what Acnologia was and her scales were green, yellow and red.

"Do you fear me now?" Eileen asked. Rycu just looked down to the floor and smiled to himself, "No, I don't fear you," Rycu said. "What's so humorous about this you have no way of winning!" Eileen said.

"Let me help," Erza said as she stood up, "Erza you should stay down, I have a score to settle with her anyway," Rycu said. "So do I," Erza said, "For once I'm not completely useless in a situation like this, against Jellal I was useless and against Acnologia I was as well so it seems that I have a debt to pay."

"Since she's the queen of dragons and has the ability to transform into one, it only seems right that since I'm the queen of the fairies I have an ability similar to that too. I always felt a weird magic inside me and I didn't know what it was and how to use it, now I do." Erza said.

Erza stood firm on her feet and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, I ask for your power now more than ever! Lease lend me your strength!" A golden aura appeared around Erza and her armour changed into something new.

Erza's armour changed to a long gold and green dress, her hair became long and curly and covered her right eye. Two large winds sprouted from her back and she was now wielding two long double sided swords. She had also increased in size by three times as much.

"This is the power of the fairies," Erza said, "The power hidden inside of me for all this time, no wonder I was called Tatania, queen of the fairies. Rycu's jaw dropped to the floor, "What there's no need to stare, let's get on with the fighting," Erza said.

Rycu snapped out of himself and changed too, "Guess it's my turn," Rycu said. Rycu changed into his dragon form and gave a tiny smile. Eileen was blown away because she never knew Rycu had a dragon form as well.

"But I though only I had a dragon form?" Eileen said. "No, all dragon slayers have the ability to transform into their dragon counterparts if they can learn how to control it." Rycu said. Eileen looked like she was building up anger inside and let out a giant roar.

Rycu and Erza looked at each other and smiled, for Rycu he'd barely noticed Erza's because even though Erza tripled in size, Rycu's size was much greater. Eileen jumped forward and sliced her claw at Erza but Rycu rammed Eileen onto the floor.

Eileen pulled herself back up, while the fight was going on August went up to Gray's unconscious body and enchanted something onto his body which went unnoticed by everyone except Eileen.

Eileen pulled a smile then she scratched Rycu across his chest, Erza flew up to Eileen and she pointed her sword towards Eileen's eye. A beam of sparkling energy launched from Erza's swords and it hit Eileen's eye which temporarily blinded her in one eye.

Eileen grabbed Erza and smashed her body into the floor, Eileen smashed her fist down to crush Erza but she lifted up her two swords which stabbed through Eileen's hand as she crushed it down.

As Eileen lifted her hand, Erza's two swords came out easily, Eileen looked at her hand. Eileen was so distracted so Rycu charged at her and held her down to the floor with his claws over her neck.

"I didn't want to have to get brutal with you but you've left me no choice!" Eileen said as she lifted up her head and bit Rycu's arm with her sharp teeth which left a giant mark on Rycu's right arm.

Rycu backed off of Eileen and growled at her, Rycu jumped forward towards Eileen but as he passed, Eileen moved out the way and smashed his body into the ground which she then bit his neck and threw him into the wall.

Erza launched out a giant ball of energy at Eileen and it hit her right in the head which knocked her down for a minute. Erza flew over to Rycu's body and saw the blood rushing out. "Are you ok?" Erza asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's a lot harder to hurt a dragon than it is to hurt a human so it doesn't hurt that much." Rycu said. He picked himself up and dived towards the stunned Eileen, Rycu grabbed her tail and swung her around while smashing her head through the floor.

Rycu lifted her over-head and was about to smash her down into the floor, as he did Eileen grabbed his head and smashed him onto the floor. Eileen walked up to him and bit him by the leg and then started to drag him along the floor.

Erza sliced at Eileen's neck but at first it had no effect on her, Eileen let go of Rycu for a moment and said, "Your stupid sword can't damage dragon scales!" The pain suddenly occurred in her neck and blood spilled out the open wound.

"How did you damage me?" Eileen asked. "My weapon is enchanted so it can cut through dragon scales." Erza said. Eileen looked angry, her scale changed and they were now pointing upwards.

Rycu charged at Eileen and smashed at her but his hand bounced back as it felt like he impaled his own hand. Rycu looked at his and now blood was spilling from that too, "You wouldn't dare attack me if you're only damaging yourself.

Eileen charged into Rycu's chest and made blood come out because of the spikes on her head. Erza shot out a beam of energy that hit Eileen in the back so she turned around to focus on her, when Erza had shot her, Eileen's scales changed so they were flat down again before popping up again.

Erza and Rycu both had the same thought, they finally thought of a plan.


	46. The Scarlet's demise

Eileen jumped up towards Erza but Erza pushed her back down by launching a beam on energy directly at her face. Eileen feel to the ground on her back, Rycu charged at Eileen and smashed his head on her chest which pushed her into the ground.

Eileen scratched at his face smashed it into the ground next to her, Eileen pulled herself up and her scales faced up again. Smashed at Rycu' body over and over again with her scales so she made lots of wounds for blood to flow out.

Eileen noticed that Erza and Rycu wasn't doing anything so she stopped for a moment and looked around in confusion. She wasn't attacking or defending herself against anyone so her scales popped down for a moment.

Rycu kicked Eileen with his legs up into the air towards Erza and then pulled his body out of the ground. Erza charged towards Eileen and as she passed she slice at Eileen's head and when they both landed on the floor again blood dripped from Eileen's head.

Eileen's body fell to the floor for a while and her scales were down, Rycu charged at Eileen and scratched her across the face. Rycu bit Eileen's arm and swung her over-head into the floor and then he backed off a bit and launched a giant laser beam from his mouth at Eileen.

The laser beam blasted Eileen back, Rycu dived from the air at Eileen and as he passed Eileen smashed him into the floor then repeatedly punched his head then gave a massive scratch along his back.

Eileen picked up Rycu by his tail then smashed his body along the floor. They both walked a few paces back from each other and roared out as hard as they could, Eileen roared out wind and Rycu roared out a laser beam.

Eileen somehow managed to reflect his shot and it bounced back at Rycu which knocked him back and his body rolled along the floor. Eileen grabbed Rycu by his head and smashed it into the floor repeatedly.

Eileen threw Rycu's body up in the air and was about to finish him off, Eileen dived through the air towards Rycu. As Eileen was about to hit Rycu, Rycu grabbed Eileen and redirected her at full force into the ground.

Rycu nodded at Erza, Erza made a giant electric ball appear in the sky and it split into millions of pieces which all charged towards Eileen. Eileen looked up and saw them all charge towards her, all of them hit Eileen and when everyone could see again, Eileen stood firm on her feet with not a scratch on her body.

Eileen had a smirk on her face as they looked in amazement, Eileen charged at Rycu while he was open and punched him directly in the side of his head which made everything seem dizzy and his head started to hurt.

Eileen gave Rycu a giant punch in his stomach which made Rycu spill blood from his mouth, Eileen stood onto of his body as he lay there unable to move at that moment. Eileen leaned her head down and whispered in Rycu's ear, "It's over for you, now all your friends will die in front of your very eyes."

Eileen grabbed Erza while she was open and held her in front of Rycu's eye's, before she was about to start killing, she clapped her dragon hands together. A bunch of giant chains made for dragons wrapped around the front of Rycu's mouth and around all of Rycu's claws.

"Let's do it a group at a time," Eileen said. She held Erza, Natsu, Gray and Gajeel in her hand all at once. "We'll start off with the worst first," Eileen said. She held all of them in front of Rycu and smashed all of them on the floor beside Rycu.

Eileen was slowly putting her foot down on all of them and applying pressure to their bodies, she lifted up her foot and stomped down at them. As Eileen was crushing her foot down, Rycu broke out of his chains.

He held Eileen's foot and threw her away from them, Rycu picked up all of them and held them in one of his hands. Rycu flew himself up in the air and was avoiding Eileen in the air to buy him some time till Erza woke back up.

Eileen dived at Rycu but was kicked away by his foot but then she sped up. He kicked her again but she grabbed his foot and spun him around while he was upright. Rycu had sight of his foot which Eileen had grabbed.

As they spun around Eileen finally let go of Rycu, Rycu had finally managed to grab Eileen's tail and as they fell Rycu spun her around and smashed her into the floor and then Rycu landed on her body at full force.

All of them had woken up and their heads were spinning like mad, when Natsu finally shook his head together he was shocked, "Since when were there two dragons! And why is Erza so big!"

"I found my new magic and I managed to use it, the dragon that's holding us is Rycu and the dragon that we're standing on in Eileen." Erza explained to Natsu. "Eileen has a dragon form!" Natsu said shockingly.

Eileen pushed Rycu off of him and punched Rycu in the stomach then smashed his head into the ground. As Eileen was bringing down her fist Rycu managed to stop it and move out of the way.

"Are you ok?" Natsu asked, You just took one hell of a hit just then." "I'm fine," Rycu said, "I think it's time to end this." Eileen dived towards Rycu, Rycu dodged out the way and grabbed her tail to smash her in the ground.

Rycu stomped on her head and then threw her body up in the air, "Now Erza!" Rycu shouted as he grabbed Erza and threw her through the air towards Eileen. She was above Eileen and shouted, "Queen of the fairies, giant sword!"

She made a giant golden blade appear in her hand and she smashed Eileen with a giant swing into the ground. When the dust and smoke disappeared, Eileen's body laid on the floor lifeless.

One was down, one was remaining


	47. I won't let you die

Eileen rolled around onto her chest and laid her head down, she had no more strength to move any more or attack at them. Rycu had put everyone else down and laid opposite of Eileen, "Cheer up," Rycu said.

"Why should I? I attempted to kill all of you and a lost a fight against my own son and daughter. Last time I checked we were enemies, both of us don't have long left in our dragon forms and then I'm screwed." Eileen said.

"Who cares? Enemy or not you are my mother, I don't care if you think little or much of me and Erza, you are my mother and I'll always care for you no matter what." Rycu said, Eileen looked down to the floor and was unsure.

Rycu leaned forward and they butted heads with each other and Rycu leaned his head against Eileen's chest and Eileen laid her head on his body and smiled. Erza was watching it and she smiled as well, "Maybe she isn't the worst," Erza thought.

"I can't let August hurt him," Eileen thought, "Sorry but this is for your own good Rycu." She put a sleeping spell on his body so Rycu passed out. They both turned back into their human forms, Eileen held Rycu's body up to her chest and dragged him a bit away.

Erza saw her and smiled again, "I guess she cares for Rycu that much, even though we're on opposite sides she's protecting him." August watched the whole time and looked unimpressed, "You count that as a victory? If you take pride in taking down someone as weak as her, then you won't even hold a stick to my power."

Erza, Gray, Gajeel and Natsu stood opposite August and they all were angry. "Do you not yet realise the foolish mistake you have made? Leaving your friend Rycu in the hands of lady Eileen?" August said.

"It doesn't matter, I know he's in safe hands for now," Erza said. Eileen had pulled Rycu's body round the corner of one of the few remaining building, she squeezed Rycu tight and had a knife in her hand.

She put it up to Rycu's neck, "I'm sorry, if I don't do this while I have a perfect chance, August will kill me." Eileen wanted to pull the knife across his neck and end it but she couldn't she started flooding out tears that scattered across the floor.

Eileen took one last, good look at her son before she closed her eyes and was about to pull, before she pulled her head lend down on his shoulder and she then realised his body had gotten colder since he passed out.

She had a sudden realisation and her eyes widened, "This can't be happening to him," Eileen thought. She immediately used her magic to connect to Rycu's mind. When Rycu woke up he had no idea where he was.

When he pulled himself up he looked like he was in some sort of glass ball and he could see his reflection everywhere. Rycu touched his hand against one of the sides and it moved plus felt just like a liquid.

When Rycu touched one of the sides it suddenly changed into a reflection of Eileen, the reflection reached out, grabbed Rycu's arm and pulled him through. When Rycu was on the other side he started to fall down an endless, black abyss.

After falling for a while he finally reached a bottom and smashed into the floor, everything was black so Rycu couldn't see anything. Someone suddenly snapped their fingers and the area became all white.

Before Rycu stood Eileen who was looking down at his body tutting at him, "What a problem you've got yourself into this time." "What do you mean?" Rycu asked. "What's happening to you now will also happen to Natsu," Eileen said.

"I still don't get it, where are we and what's happening to me?" Rycu asked. "Right now we're in your mind, which gives me time to talk to you in private. When you passed out I thought it was my sleeping magic but it was because you are nearing the end of your life unless we do something about it soon." Eileen said.

"How am I dying and how do I stop myself from dying?" Rycu asked. "As we all saw, you have demon magic and dragon magic. When you have dragon magic you have a dragon seed in you and the same goes for demon. You have both, the two seeds don't work out together in the same body and will end out killing you." Eileen explained

"How do I stop it?" Rycu asked. "There's a couple of ways this can end, you can sacrifice all trace of your demon magic and become a dragon permanently, you can sacrifice all dragon magic and become a demon permanently and the last one is the riskiest." Eileen said.

"What's the last way?" Rycu asked. "The last way is, to do nothing," Eileen said. "What would happen to me then?" Rycu asked for the last time. "If you do nothing, you can have two things happen, you will either die or your magic fuses to become stronger but it'll also make you half demon." Eileen said.

Rycu was shocked, they were his only choices, he could become a monster for the rest of his life or he could gamble his life and fuse his magic which has a very low chance of happening so it would feel as he's throwing his life away.

"You don't have to make the decision now, that decision will be made on your so called death bed," Eileen explained. Rycu fell to his knees and started shedding tears, "There's no way out, this is the end for me," Rycu sobbed.

Eileen went on her knees as well, she faced opposite his and hugged him as tight as she could, "I promise you, you'll be ok, I won't let you die on me, you'll always be safe by me." Rycu slowed his tears and wrapped his arms around her as well.

They both kneeled there, in the middle of nowhere, hugging each other tightly.

"I won't let you die, no matter the cost."


	48. Annihilation

(Sorry for no chapters recently, I'm working on what will happen next and a new story after this)

Eileen looked up at Rycu's face and wiped away the last of his tears, "No time for crying, it's time for you to shine." Eileen suddenly disappeared in font of Rycu and his vision blacked out again.

Eileen went back to her body and looked back down at Rycu, Rycu's body temperature suddenly raised and he was taking heavy breaths, "Thank goodness," Eileen thought. Eileen gave Rycu's body a gentle shake and Rycu's eyes sprung open.

Rycu leaned up and looked around him, "I need to get rid of August!" Rycu said as he pulled himself up, he spotted all of them fighting and was about to walk over. Eileen stood up as well and tugged on Rycu's shoulder, pulling him back.

"You can't fight him yet, August has one main weakness that nobody knows of, just watch them fight for a while and see if you can find out his weakness and then you can intervene," Eileen explained.

Rycu thought for a moment and nodded his head at Eileen, Rycu looked around the corner and observed the fight. Erza, Natsu, Gajeel and Gray jumped towards August at once, "You're just as foolish as everyone else," August said.

"I've said this before, I can control your magic and counter it," August said. Suddenly Gajeel and Natsu punched each other in the face then Gray used his ice hammer to smash both of them.

Erza sliced her sword at August but all he did was lift up his pinkie and shattered her blade. Erza kicked August across the face but he didn't even flinch, August grabbed Erza and smashed her into the ground and kicked her into Gray which knocked both of them over.

Natsu jumped towards August with his flaming fist and August then changed his eyes to red, Natsu switched back to his normal fist and punched August across the face but then kicked him in the head with his flaming foot.

August grabbed Natsu's foot when he tried to hit him again, then August smashed it into the floor. Gray launch an arsenal of ice shards, hammers and swords out towards August and they all sliced at him.

August kicked and punched every last one of them into millions of pieces, the ice shards hit against his body and smashed when they hit him. The hammer was effortlessly destroyed with one of August punches and the swords were broken with only his fingers.

August launched some sort of claw out of his hand and it latched onto Gray, it wrapped around him and pulled him towards August. August made a full punch and smashed Gray through the floor in one swing. Gajeel them pulled himself back up and got ready, he launched his iron club at August.

August stuck out his staff and it destroyed Gajeel's club on impact, Gajeel grabbed August's staff and had a grip on it. From the end of the staff that was pointing towards Gajeel, a beam of energy launched out and blasted Gajeel back.

As Gajeel fell back, August eyes flashed yellow and a giant bolt of lightning crashed on Gajeel over and over again, sending shockwaves through the floor. August eventually stopped and Gajeel was face first in to the floor.

Erza gritted her teeth then launched at August, she pulled out her giant sword and sliced it at August, he just stood there and took the hit because Erza's sword broke as soon as it hit him.

Erza equipped her armour with wing and dived down, head-first into August, August closed his eyes as she attacked. Everywhere she attacked him he blocked without even looking, Erza wound up a giant swing as she smashed it down August blocked it.

As August blocked it Erza quickly moved back in front of August and sliced at him vertically, August was pushed back a bit and then he reopened his eyes. He launched at Erza and smashed her into the floor.

Erza didn't even have time to react, he looked like he hadn't even moved from his position when he had attacked her. She pulled herself back up but within an instant he had smashed her back into the floor without even looking like he moved.

Natsu and Erza stood up together and both launched at him, he looked like he was just standing there but he was attacking Erza and Natsu aggressively. As August went past Erza one moment she sliced at him and left him vulnerable.

Natsu gave August a giant punch which made him slide across the floor, August stood back up and cracked him neck. He pounced at Erza but she had moved out the way, as he moved past Erza he redirected and smashed her in the head.

He grabbed Erza and threw her into Natsu, Natsu gave Erza a boost and she smashed into August. August punched Erza back into the floor and as Natsu jumped at him he smashed Natsu into the floor as well.

Erza sliced at August's leg but it didn't even leave a mark and August smashed her head again, "I think I figured out his weakness," Rycu said. Rycu ran out of cover and shouted to August then approached him.

"He's too powerful, turn back," Natsu said. Rycu continued to walk towards August until they were face to face. "Finally decided to stop hiding?" August said as he smirked and stomped on Natsu's body again.

"You're not all powerful, everyone has weaknesses, just like you do," Rycu said. August pulled a confused look, "He has a weakness?" Erza thought. "I'll save that till later, I will beat you up without your weakness, that's my last resort," Rycu said.

"How did he figure it out within this very short period of time? I will have to go harder than I should against him," August said. Rycu pulled a giant smile and his hand lit up with a flame, he then stepped right in front of August.

"I'm not showing mercy."


	49. The king of magic falls

"He must have a death wish!" Eileen thought, "Trying to beat August without his weakness." "Feeling cocky are we?" August questioned as he punched at Rycu. Rycu dodged August and kicked him far back.

August was launching at Rycu and punch furiously, August landed a punch across Rycu's face and sent him through the floor. August stood high up on a giant rock with lightning flashing around him.

Rycu lit up his fist with electric and fire and then launched up towards August, August controlled Rycu's magic and tried to make him punch himself in the face but it showed no effect on him.

August was shocked so he didn't know what to do, Rycu punched August across his face and used his wing attack on him which blasted him off the rock. As August fell off of the rock, Rycu dived towards him and smashed August's body through the floor.

Rycu stamped on top of August but he grabbed his foot and threw him across the battlefield. August made a lightning bolt crash down from the sky but Rycu redirected it to August and it caused his body to be charged with electric.

August punched at Rycu with his electric fist in an instant and it smashed Rycu through the floor and made a giant crater. As Rycu was pulling himself up he was shocked by another bolt of lightning which stunned him.

August put his foot on Rycu's chest and slowly pressed down, Rycu could hear some of his bones snapping into two pieces and he let out a scream of pain. Rycu grabbed August's foot punched it off of him.

Rycu stood up and he was leaning over because he was holding his ribs, August threw his staff at Rycu's heart but Rycu put his hand up and stopped the staff in its track but he also left a hole through his hand.

Rycu pulled the staff out of his hand and broke it into two, Rycu's hands lit up with fire once again. August nullified his magic but then Rycu switched to light magic and August didn't have time to stop it so he took a hard hit across the face.

Rycu took another punch at August but he blocked it and punched Rycu across the face. August tapped his staff on the floor and magic circle appeared around him, it was a purple circle and everyone could sense great power behind it.

The circle had purple sparks rising from it and turning the sky purple itself, a purple mist surrounded Rycu and nothing else was visible for him. The mist absorbed all the magic energy in Rycu and transferred it to August.

August suddenly had a great magical power, one hit from him could wipe out a city effortlessly. August raised his hands in the air and a giant purple ball appeared above him, it moved up to the sky and disappeared.

A giant purple lightning bolt struck down on Rycu and made him fall to the floor, it also started to rain and it felt like acid. When August looked over Rycu was flat on the floor and there was no life to be seen.

Rycu's body suddenly twitched and he managed to stand up, "How are you able to stand after that attack?" August questioned. "I thought I told you already, darkness magic won't work on me anymore," Rycu said.

August started to glow and all the magic energy he had stolen off of Rycu transferred back to Rycu's body. Rycu clenched his fist and it glowed a pure white colour, Rycu stood up and walked forward towards August.

As Rycu was walking forward he had activated his dragon force so the scale lines grew across his face, arms, legs and chest. Rycu didn't even move and August's body was blasted into a giant rock.

August regained his confidence and jumped towards Rycu while charging a giant punch, Rycu just stood still and charged a giant punch which collided with August's. Both of them just wanted it to be over.

Rycu's punch overpowered August's and it blasted him into the floor, Rycu grabbed August and slammed him into the floor repeatedly until August managed to grab Rycu's leg and throw him across the floor.

Rycu landed on his feet and he skidded across the floor until he eventually stopped, when Rycu looked back up August was charging at him directly while in the air. Rycu simply lifted his hand and stopped August mid-air.

Rycu punched August's chest with his other hand and made his body slide along the floor, August stood back up and stomped his foot on the floor which made everything shake are made some other buildings crumble.

August blasted Rycu into the sky within an instant and got ready to attack again, August held the two half of his staff together and they became one, he pointed the crystal on top of it towards Rycu and it glowed purple.

It launched a giant purple laser beam towards Rycu, Rycu saw it coming and his fist glowed with white flames again and punched the beam head-on. Rycu's fist launched out a flaming shot which fused with Augusts purple laser beam.

The giant fused beam of energy glowed white and then exploded, Rycu landed back on the floor and launched to August. August was in shock so he had no time to react to the madness which was happening.

August looked towards Rycu, Rycu launched towards him and his fist glowed golden and blasted August across the face, Rycu showed no expression the entire time he just had a frowning face.

August's eyes were fully white and he laid on the floor emotionless, Rycu stood in front of him looking away, the scale lines on his body disappeared and Rycu went back to normal, Rycu took a deep breath and looked behind at August's body.

The sky had turned back to normal, all the purple clouds had vanished.

That should have been it, that should have been the end of it all.


	50. August's weakness

Everyone looked in amazement, like they normally would if Rycu won a fight against a powerful wizard. Eileen looked round the corner, "He beat August without his weakness? My children truly are amazing."

Everyone stumbled over and looked at August's lifeless body, besides Gray. Natsu put his arm around Rycu's neck and leaned on him, "How do you do these sort of things?" Natsu asked.

"We'll never know," Erza said as she put her arm around Natsu's neck, Rycu fell down to the floor on one of his knees but Natsu caught him. "You ok?" Natsu asked. Natsu could barely hold him up so Erza held Rycu up from the other side.

Rycu tried to walk forward but when he did his leg hurt so he let out a scream of pain, "Don't try and move or do anything, you're in a bad shape as it is, we all could use with a break," Erza said.

"You think we got it bad? Rycu's got it much worse!" Natsu said, they continued to talk on for a while and then Gajeel joined the conversation. Gray had already gotten up but his eyes were fully black and he walked over to them with his ice blades on his hand.

As Gray approached them he stabbed his ice blade through Rycu's chest, everyone looked in shock, Natsu turned around and knocked Gray out before he did anything else. Rycu's body fell to the floor and his vision zoomed in and out while getting darker.

Erza kneeled down to Rycu's body to try and help him, August's eye opened and he stood back up and shocked everyone else with lightning, "It worked!" August said in an evil sounding voice followed by a never-ending laugh.

"I have to do something," Rycu thought, he remembered the pills and started to crawl towards the glass bottle. August walked over to Rycu's body and kicked him over then stamped on his chest which made him cough out blood.

Rycu turned himself back over and continued to crawl, August walked up to him again and stomped on his back which made him cough up more blood. "Rycu," Erza whispered but she couldn't move anything else.

Rycu still crawled, "I can't stop," he thought. August looked over and saw what he was trying to reach, he walked over to the glass bottle and smashed it onto the floor, breaking it into thousands of pieces, along with the pill.

August picked up Rycu and threw him into the glass, "good luck with getting the pill," August said. August had noticed that all the glass was disappearing around Rycu, "He can't be that stupid!"

Rycu had absorbed the pill and the glass into his body, "That's a foolish move! You'll die by doing that!" August exclaimed. "You'll always have to take risks at some point," Rycu said as he pulled himself up.

All of his wounds were still there, he wouldn't be able to feel them until he goes through all his magic energy again. "You can't do this on your own," Natsu said as he stood up and wiped some blood off of his mouth.

"You'd be foolish to fight me in that state!" August said. "You're right," Rycu said as he walked over towards Natsu and grabbed onto his wrist, both their arms glowed yellow, Rycu had given half his magic to Natsu.

Natsu felt better and pulled a smile on his face, "Thanks a million!" They both faced August with a smile across their face. "If we're playing it that way then fine," August said. He held out his hand as if he was choking someone.

Eileen was suddenly pulled from cover and appeared in August's hand like a magnet, "Eileen you must fight," August said. "I can't fight my own child!" Eileen said. "Fine," August said, his eyes flashed red and Eileen's became red.

She could no longer control herself, she was in the hands of August, Eileen just faced them and was ready to fight as if she'd been fighting the whole time. "Let's make this a two on two!" August said.

"What have you done to her!" Rycu shouted, he launched at August but was slammed back down and he moved back next to Natsu. "Don't try anything sneaky," August said. "That's funny considering what you just did," Natsu said.

Both sides stared down at each other, Rycu was opposite August and Natsu was opposite Eileen. August had a cheeky grin on his face, August made lightning strike down and just before it hit them the two sides had swapped place.

August and Eileen had been shocked by the lightning and then Rycu pulled a smile, Natsu and Rycu jumped up, Natsu kicked Eileen and knocked her back, Rycu kicked at August but it was deflected.

Natsu then kicked at August and knocked him back. Natsu and Rycu both charged, right as they were about to hit their targets the had swapped positions and Rycu hit Eileen then Natsu hit August.

As Natsu and Rycu jumped at August he grabbed one of their feet each and smashed them together. They threw rapid punches at August but he blocked them all effortlessly and even yawned during it.

While they were distracted Eileen swiped at them with her staff and knocked both of them on the floor. Natsu and Rycu then sprinted at August and Eileen again, Rycu charged at August head-on then Natsu jumped off Rycu and kicked Eileen in the face.

August threw a giant punch at Rycu which he blocked, Rycu charged up a giant flaming punch that kept getting larger, Rycu punched at August but he redirected it to Natsu. At the last second Rycu redirected himself and smashed his fist into August.

"He overpowered my magic control?" August thought. Natsu looked at August and smiled, "Nothing can stop us, nothing will ever stop us in our tracks to banishing darkness." Natsu said.

"I think it should be time I let you know about August's weakness." Rycu said.


	51. August's last fight

"Spill the beans then, what is my weakness?" August asked. "Didn't you find it weird how I managed to overpower your magic?" Rycu asked. "What about it?" August asked. "That's to do with your weakness, let me explain." Rycu said.

"The reason I overpowered your magic was because I wasn't even using my own, I was using his. Natsu lit the flame in my hand, he can do that because we both possess fire dragonslayer magic. I attacked you with magic from another holder, so you couldn't stop it because it isn't mine." Rycu said.

"That makes no sense!" August said. "Then explain this!" Natsu lit a flame in Rycu's hand and he punched at August, August tried to control it but he couldn't, Rycu landed the hit on August and it made him crash through the water.

Natsu and Rycu went back to back, "You get Eileen, I'll get August, we can't lose now!" Rycu said. Natsu lit Rycu's hands with his fire and Rycu lit Natsu's hands with his white fire. August jumped at Rycu and kicked him across the face.

As Rycu's body made a backflip, Rycu launched fire from his hands which made an explosion that blasted him back. Rycu kicked off Natsu's back so both of them launched at their opponents.

Rycu punched at August but missed so he kicked him in the head and threw him behind him, Natsu punched Eileen in the face and threw her behind him. Rycu and Natsu looked behind then and launched a ball of fire which caught August and Eileen in the explosion.

August launched out of the explosion and dragged Rycu's head through the floor, Rycu kicked August chest and pushed himself into the air where he roared a great ball of fire which blasted Rycu over to Eileen so he got ready to kick.

Eileen grabbed Rycu's foot and a beam of energy shot out of her hand and blasted Rycu back, August came out and smashed Rycu into the floor. Natsu kicked August across the head and punched him with Rycu's flames.

Eileen was coming up from behind so Rycu wing attacked her then blasted her into the floor with his iron fist. While Rycu was in the air he saw August coming up from behind so he kicked him back into Natsu who blasted him into the floor as well.

Eileen jumped back up and sliced at Rycu's chest and pushed him back. Natsu and Rycu were back to back again, "Eileen doesn't have access to her dragon form while she's possessed I'll take her out fast, can you handle August for a while?" Rycu asked.

"I'll be fine, just take her out quickly," Natsu said. Rycu rushed towards Eileen and wing attacked her but she didn't move at all, he then punched at her but she blocked it with her hands and punched him across the face.

Rycu followed her up by making an uppercut on her and blasted her across the floor, as her feet skid across the floor Rycu launched again and smashed her into the ground. Rycu jumped high above her and shot down a giant sphere of fire at her.

Eileen jumped out of the fire then sliced Rycu's legs with her claws and kicked him back down, "Hurry up!" Natsu shouted as he was being overwhelmed by attacks, "Alright, no more games!" Rycu shouted.

Rycu jumped up to Eileen and smashed her into the floor he got ready to shoot a ball of fire at Eileen but he hesitated for a moment he thought, this was his mother, how could he do this? Rycu snapped out of it and launched his attack.

Eileen laid flat on the floor, unconscious and was out of the spell, Rycu launched straight at August and punched him across the face before he would destroy Natsu. August grabbed Natsu at the last second and smashed him into Rycu.

Rycu boosted Natsu into August and then he followed up behind Natsu. Natsu activated his lightning flame dragon form and hit August across the face which left him open. August grabbed Natsu and smashed him back into the floor.

"Where's Rycu?" August thought, Rycu had been using his shadow dragon form, he jumped out of nowhere and kicked him across the face then kicked him down to the floor. "This fight shouldn't drag on much longer so let's end this now!" Natsu shouted

Rycu and Natsu activated their dragon force and pounced forward, August smiled and his eyes became yellow. August sliced at them non-stop and neither of them could keep up with him.

Rycu set his body completely on fire which blinded August for a second. Natsu grabbed August and smashed him down to Rycu who blasted him high in the air. Natsu and Rycu both roared at him with all that they had left in them.

August's body was completely covered in fire, he dived back down and his whole body was flaming with electric. Natsu and Rycu punched August with fire but it just made him stronger and he smashed both of them and was tearing them to shreds.

Natsu and Rycu looked at each other and nodded, Rycu made a giant roar of wind which weakened August's flames. August crashed down on Rycu and almost knocked him out. Rycu struggled to stay conscious as August stamped on his head.

August kept getting stronger by the second, Natsu jumped out and punched August a far distance away from him, Natsu kneeled down at Rycu and shook his body, "Rycu! Rycu! Stay with me!"

August charged over and repeatedly punched Natsu, every time the punch got stronger and stronger. Rycu started to pull himself up slowly, when he managed to get on his feet he built up all the magic energy he could in the stomach.

Then Rycu shouted, "Sky Dragon roar!" Rycu let out the largest sky dragon roar anyone had ever done, all the fire on August had disappeared and he had been blasted high up into the air.

Rycu stumbled over to Natsu's body and pulled him up, Natsu could barely stand either, "When I say go do the strongest attack you could ever do," Rycu said. "Got it!" Natsu said. They both held their hand forward and held hands.

They both lit a fire in their hand and it became larger because they were combining their powers. Even though there was rain it didn't put out their fire no matter how hard it would pour it would never be put out.

August falling in front of them both, they pulled back their hands and their flame became even larger. As August fell in front of them they smashed both of their fists into them as hard as they could and August's body rolled across the floor with his eyes fully white.

That was it, August was down for good.


	52. The impossible choice

Rycu and Natsu looked at each other and smiled, the so called king of magic had been defeated by the hands of two dragonslayers. They had gone through all their magic energy so now they would feel all the pain again.

Natsu and Rycu felt all the pain at once, they both let out a scream of pain and fell to the floor. Erza could now move again so she rushed over to their bodies and checked them both in case they had stopped breathing.

Both of them were still alive but not by much, the guild hall was still intact thanks to an enchantment, the rest of the guild had also woken up. Erza grabbed both Rycu and Natsu's bodies and rushed back.

She rushed to Makarov while holding both of them, "Master, Natsu and Rycu beat August but now somethings wrong with them and they're dying." Erza said. Makarov saw their battered bodies, "Get them to the medical room!" Makarov ordered.

Gajeel came up from behind and took Natsu in while Erza took Rycu, they laid Natsu and Rycu on one of the beds each and watched as Wendy used her healing magic to try and heal the wounds to see if it would help.

Once Wendy had healed up their wounds all they could do was wait. Inside their heads again they appeared on a flat white surface but they could see each other but not interact with each other.

"Where are we?" Natsu asked. Eileen appeared in front of them, "You're in your mind, it's time to make your choice, will you become a dragon, a demon or will you do nothing and put your life at risk."

Natsu immediately knew what that meant as if he heard the words before, Eileen stared towards Rycu, "Time to make your choice." Eileen said. Rycu stared down to the floor, not knowing what to do.

The Eileen in the human world had gone up to the guild and where Rycu and Natsu laid, "Why the hell are you here!?" Gajeel asked. "What? Is it a crime if I wish to see my own child? Anyway, I can tell you what's happening but it can only be known to dragonslayers." Eileen said.

Everyone stepped out except Gajeel and Eileen explained to him what was happening. Gajeel looked over to their bodies, "Ok, I got it now, I promise I'll keep this to myself," Gajeel said.

Everyone else walked back in and Eileen sat next to Rycu's bed. Back inside of their minds Rycu and Natsu had both decided and they both knew this could affect everyone around them, even their friends.

On the count of three both of them would say what they would do, as soon as they said three they both shouted, "I chose to do nothing!" Eileen smiled at both of them and said, "I hope luck is on both of your sides."

Eileen disappeared like last time and both their visions went black. In the normal world everything was silent for ten minutes until at last something happened to them, Eileen crossed her fingers.

Both Natsu and Rycu let out deep breaths and opened their eyes to see everyone standing around them. "Thank goodness," Erza said as she hugged both of them, "You two had me extremely worried."

"Where's Gray?" Natsu asked. "We don't know what's happening, he keeps saying things like, he's coming, he's been revived but we don't know what that exactly means, we don't know exactly who this person is.

Erza had also taken lots of damage from August, with no warning her body just fell to the floor. Wendy put Erza on a bed and healed what wounds she had on her. "She's fine, it'll only take a couple of hours for her to recover.

Lots of people who were watching them left until there was only Gajeel, Eileen and Makarov, "You've all done me proud today by beating one of the greatest threats to the earth." Makarov said, "I shall leave you in peace, you come as well Gajeel."

Both of them left the room and there was just Rycu, Eileen, Erza and Natsu in that room. "Still here?" Rycu said to Eileen. "I want to stay around for a bit and watch over my children, is that a problem?" Eileen asked in a fierce voice.

Erza coughed and wheezed then opened her eyes, "What happened?" Erza asked. "You passed out from all the damage you took from August, Wendy said it'll take only a few hours to recover." Natsu said.

Erza stared up to the ceiling and thought, "Nothing could ever stop both of them, their impossible to put them down for even a while." Erza started to hear a ringing noise in her ear and she passed out again.

Eileen eventually went off, everyone else was partying about another victory except Erza, Rycu and Natsu again. Natsu crossed his arms looking angry, "This sucks still, why don't we get to party!"

"Shut up and stop complaining," Rycu said as he bashed Natsu on top of his head. "I just want to have some fun!" Natsu complained. They laid there for a couple of hours and the party had died down.

"Looks like there pretty much finished," Rycu said. Once everyone had gone, Erza felt better so she left them and Natsu decided that he'd rather sleep in his house so Erza helped him get to his home.

Rycu was the only one there, it was all complete silence as if the town was abandoned and rejected by everybody. In the guild hall it was pitch black, you'd need to be able to see in the dark or have shadow powers to find your way around.

Rycu laid there, thinking about the fight against August and what happened throughout it, Rycu was just glad that was the end of it, the strongest person who wields dark magic had been defeated.

Rycu looked over to the door and was shocked.

Two red eyes stared directly at him.


	53. The Nightmare Begins

As the red eyes approached him they got bigger and he could see the person and recognised them, it was Eileen. "What happened, why are you her?" Rycu asked. As she walked towards him she didn't speak.

Eileen jumped on Rycu's bed and held his arms and legs down so he couldn't move, Eileen's head leaned down and she stared him directly in the eye. Rycu head-butted her to get her off him.

Rycu limped to the door but there was an enchantment that blocked him from getting out, he looked back and saw the window. Eileen forced Rycu into a corner then punched him, Rycu moved around her and went for the window.

As he was moving he tripped and fell to the floor, Eileen grabbed his leg and broke it, he kicked Eileen with his other foot and grabbed a chair which he smashed into the window and pulled himself out.

When Rycu was out he looked back at the window but Eileen wasn't there anymore, Rycu looked around him and heard nothing and there was no one in their homes, the whole town was deserted.

There was a thick fog everywhere so Rycu couldn't see anything, in front of him Rycu saw a shadow of a man walking towards him, this time it was Gray. They both walked along the stone path towards each other.

Gray latched onto Rycu's shoulders and whispered, "He is revived," Gray then kept on walking until Rycu could no longer see him. Rycu thought, "What's wrong with everyone, I need to find Erza."

Rycu then made way to Erza's house and along the way he saw no soul or even heard one. Rycu eventually reached a giant house, where Erza lived was home to lots of other people and she helped out there.

Rycu touched the large front door and it fell off of its hinges, smashing into the floor and making a large noise. The noise had also awoken someone from their sleep. Rycu stepped forward and observed his surroundings.

It was a giant room that was fit for a ballroom, the ceiling there was a large chandelier that had all its bulbs broken, some of the wallpaper had been ripped strait off and there were broken wardrobes scattered across the floor.

There was some sort of reception desk next to him which had a bell which Rycu knew he shouldn't touch. In front of him was a large set of stairs which led to the next floor, Rycu suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard footsteps upstairs.

Rycu looked back at the front door, the door was suddenly fixed back on and when Rycu tried to use the door it wouldn't open. Rycu heard someone start to walk downstairs so he rushed for somewhere to hide.

Rycu looked around him and tried to find a spot to hide, he had no other choice but to hide under the desk, there were cupboard doors which Rycu could fit in so he dived into one before the person reached downstairs.

"Come out come out wherever you are, I promise I won't hurt you too much," The voice said, as she past some wardrobes she smashed them to pieces with her mace. "You're invading my fun place, my home!" They said.

Rycu immediately knew it was a girls voice, the girls smashed her mace at the reception desk and broke it into two. Rycu's heartbeat raised but he managed to keep calm, the girl walked back upstairs, "I will kill you! Once you enter you'll never leave!"

They continued to shout and when their voice went quiet Rycu came out of cover, when he looked around again everything was broken to pieces and parts to the wall had been broken down, even some parts of the ceiling were damaged.

"Am I in reality or am I in a nightmare?" Rycu thought to himself. Rycu walked into the room on the left and it looked like a dining area, there was one giant, long table in the centre of another large room that had chairs all around it.

Rycu walked up to the table and in front of each chair was a plate of rotten food, in the centre there was even a giant turkey but it had turned all green and not edible, if someone ate it they'd die.

Rycu left that room and slowly crept his whole way upstairs, on the last step it creaked, fortunately no one had heard it so Rycu continued to walk. Rycu began to check through the whole of the second floor.

The first room he checked, there was ripped cloths all along the floor and torn posters that had kill written on all of them. Rycu then moved along to the next room along which was a bathroom.

Inside of the bathroom there were towels covering the floor, the shower curtain was ripped, the toilet was flooded with water and the mirror was shattered and a bloody handprint slid across each piece of glass.

There was a picture attached to it, it looked like Erza with Levy and a few other girls who were having a pool party, splashing the water at each other and relaxing in the water with their face looking up into the boiling sun.

Rycu looked at Erza in the picture, she was just a small girl with scarlet hair, she seemed so innocent and friendly. Erza was splashing water towards Levy and she was wearing sun shades.

The picture that was in Rycu's hand suddenly turned to dust and disappeared, Rycu moved to the next floor, he went into the fist door to his left. There was one girl standing in the centre of the room.

The room was the length of three rooms and the width of one, along the left and right side of the room was lots of different armours. The girl in the centre started to twitch, the girl looked so innocent, the girl had scarlet hair, she turned around to face Rycu.

The girl, was Erza Scarlet.


	54. Revived

Erza had a creepy smile on her face which couldn't be wiped off of her, she swung her mace at Rycu but he managed to dodge it and started to run. He moved with his right leg and the other just dragged behind him.

Erza smashed her mace into the floor which made a part of the ceiling collapse on Rycu, large amounts of rubble fell on him and he slowly dragged himself out. Erza threw her mace again but missed which freed him from the rubble.

Rycu pushed past Erza and moved upstairs, Erza smashed her mace into the stairs above Rycu so he couldn't progress. Erza came up behind Rycu and started to strangle him with the chain of the mace. Rycu fell to his knees while being strangled and struggled for air.

Erza stopped strangling him and pulled his body into another bedroom, she tied his hands and legs to each post of a bed, "I told you. You can't leave" Erza said. She jumped on the bed and stood on Rycu.

She started to press down her foot against his neck, Rycu could feel his bones starting to crack. Erza stopped again then punched him across the face, Rycu didn't even have the strength to call for help.

Erza then had second thoughts, she pulled out a sword and held it above Rycu, she cut one of his arms down to the bone and cut his skin so blood poured out of it. She held her sword above Rycu and was about to slice down.

Rycu broke free one of his hands and swung at Erza, she grabbed his am and cut it so it flopped back down. She took his other arm and tied it with the other behind his back, Erza pulled out her mace.

She put the chain around his neck and pulled it tight, Erza covered his mouth and his nose with her other hand so now he couldn't get any air. Just before Rycu was about to die he flashed yellow and all his rope snapped.

Rycu was still very weak, he rolled off the bed and stumbled out the room, when he reached the stairs he managed to jump the gap and go up the last part of the staircase which had led him to the roof.

Rycu pulled himself up and looked for any other way to get down other than jumping, Erza made it up top and walked towards him, Rycu backed up a bit and he felt the ledge of the building then looked down.

Rycu noticed the pool, it still had some water in it and would slow his fall, but it was too risky. Rycu spotted something and he jumped down, Erza ran and looked over the ledge he had scaled his way down by using the balcony.

Rycu touched the ground then slowly made his way out of the area, and made his way over to Natsu's house. Along the way there was still no one to be found throughout the whole town.

When Rycu reached Natsu's house, he busted in which woke up Natsu, "What's going on?" Natsu said. Rycu didn't want to tell Natsu about what was happening to him because thought he wouldn't believe him.

"Is it fine if I stay here?" Rycu asked. "This is our house remember!" Natsu said. Rycu laid down on his bed and fell asleep just like Natsu. They slept peacefully for a couple of hours but halfway through the night someone charged in.

Erza had busted down the door and held a sword above him, Natsu's eyes suddenly turned red as well. Natsu and Erza pinned Rycu to the floor while Erza held the sword above Rycu's head.

Rycu kicked Natsu and then Erza, he was crawling away then Erza stamped and broke Rycu's left foot. Blood was pouring everywhere out of Rycu, Erza picked up his body and threw it outside which she then stamped on him one last time before she left.

Rycu was almost dead, he crawled very slowly through the woods, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Rycu had nowhere to go, when his friends saw him they would attack him, showing no mercy.

They all wanted him dead, Rycu found a large tree and leaned up against it, thinking the whole situation through. A mysterious figure jumped from the shadows and pounced on his body.

The person had a striped tail and sharp teeth, "Hello Rycu, my names Trizent, I heard you were involved with killing Acnologia!" he said. "Calm down Trizent," someone said as they walked up behind him.

Another nine people appeared behind Trizent, "So this is the guy who killed Acnologia? I must admit that is impressive," one of them said. "Don't flatter the boy!" Another voice said. Everyone started to chatter on until he came.

A figure walked up to Rycu and said, "Hello old friend," he said. Rycu looked in fear, it was Zeref who stood before him. "How?" Rycu said. Zeref looked down at Rycu's battered and bruised body.

"Remember when Acnologia stabbed me through the chest? What he actually did was grant me my ultimate power for what I have desired for so long, the last thing I want to do is wipe out Fairy Tail but why not do it the fun way?" Zeref said.

"I have control over all of your friends thanks to this artefact called the Aritoto, if you want to free your friends you have to destroy this or kill your friends and their bonds will be broken. By night I can control them and by day they are normal and they won't even know that last night happened." Zeref said.

"I would have fought you now but it seems you still have your damages from August and much more so for now I'll leave you. If you want to get healed up there's a village to the north of here, good luck." Zeref said.

All ten of his minions and Zeref himself walked away and left Rycu to struggle.

"We'll meet again soon, friend."


	55. First Blood

Overnight Rycu had managed to cover up some of his wounds, he still felt very bad and couldn't fight or walk properly. Rycu sat on top of the hill that was behind the village Zeref had told him of, the village was called Zalairia.

Back at the guild Natsu and Erza had just made it there, just like Zeref said, they didn't remember anything about last night. Makarov walked up to them, "We have bad news, Rycu isn't here now, we searched all over the city but he isn't here."

"What?" Natsu said, him and Erza rushed over to the medical room and saw the glass window that had been shattered. "What on Earth happened here?" Erza asked. The glass was shattered into trillions of pieces on the floor.

"Let's go find him!" Natsu said. Natsu and Erza went back to Natsu's house when they had spotted the trail of blood that Rycu had left behind. "This can't be good but it came from your house so what happened?" Erza asked.

"I don't know but something bad has happened to Rycu," Natsu said. They both followed the trail of blood up to the great tree that Rycu had rested on. They continued to walk north up to Zalairia, exactly where Rycu had gone.

Rycu had moved into the city, trying not to attract too much attention. Rycu was looking around for a medical place for him to go. Rycu looked forward and saw an old person standing outside their house and they signalled him.

Rycu stepped inside of the small house the old person had gone into, "Hello Rycu," the old person said. "How do you know me and who are you?" Rycu asked. They made Rycu sit down and had started to use healing magic.

"I was one of the survivors of Acnologia's attack on our city, you are the one who got revenge on Acnologia so take this as a thank you gift." The old person said. "I thought no one else survived and what is your name?" Rycu asked.

"My name is Gruda," she said. Rycu's wounds no longer hurt, Gruda bandaged up his broken bones, he could move around and use his magic just fine. "Thank Gruda," Rycu said as he was walking out. "Take care of yourself," Gruda said as he left.

"It's time to start hunting down Zeref," Rycu thought. "I should be fine around my friends until it's night, then I need to vanish and I can't tell them about Zeref or he will kill them all as soon as they find out."

Rycu noticed the streets had become quiet once again, he heard someone jumping along the rooftops, they then jumped down and attacked Rycu but missed. When Rycu looked it was Trizent again.

"All us minions are meant to kill you so I'm here to get it done first," Trizent said. "I bet you already know we're demons from the book of Zeref so we have the power and transformations that demons have."

When Trizent said about demon magic Rycu remembered that Eileen told him his demon and dragon powers would fuse together. He felt a weird power in him but he didn't know how to harness it so he forgot about it for a while.

Rycu had no idea what Trizent's magic was, they both launched at each other and collided fists which caused an explosion. Erza and Natsu had spotted it from outside the city and they ran towards its source.

Whenever Rycu hit Trizent, he felt the pain instead of Trizent, Rycu expected the same thing to happen when he hit him, but when Trizent hit him Rycu felt the hit two times as powerful than it actually was.

"I bet this guy works exactly like August, I just have to beat him without magic," Rycu thought. Rycu punched Trizent across the face while he was using no magic and he still got the hit.

"There's always traces of magic in you, even if you hit me with your fist alone, there's still magic growing in there." Trizent said. Trizent moved around like August, he was impossible to see with the naked eye.

Rycu closed his eyes and listened, heard where he would attack next and figured out his pattern. Rycu stopped Trizen's pattern by giving him a giant fire dragon punch into his chest where he would move to next.

Trizent looked at Rycu as he was blasted back, "What is he?" Trizent thought. Rycu could also feel the punch but it was less effective on him since Rycu is a dragonslayer, if they are hit with an element they possess it has less of an effect on them.

Trizent launched at him and his hand turned into that of a demon, he grabbed Rycu and smashed him overhead but Rycu deflected it and punched him again. "I know you was lying, you can feel every hit," Rycu said.

Rycu shocked Trizent with lightning and then launched at him with a fully charged attack, Rycu punched him across the face, as soon as the attack landed both of them was blasted back and smashed through multiple buildings.

They both stood up and walk to each other again, Rycu put his two hands together and slowly pulled them apart. As they were pulled apart Rycu's magic became stronger, he pulled his hands apart and they both lit up.

Rycu put his hand straight forward and a giant golden beam blasted at Trizent, Trizent has raised his guard but his hands were blasted back and his body blasted through the floor and through more buildings.

Trizent stared across looking completely shocked and had no other words, "I see how it is, I remember now, you're another demon from the book of Zeref just like your other friend Natsu. It would seem too easy if I didn't actually try."

Trizent stood up and gave a giant smile towards Rycu, "Things are about to get a lot more interesting aren't they?"


	56. The Elite Ten

Trizent stood back on his feet and he changed, "Demons from the book of Zeref have a demon form so if you escape my grasps you'll still have to deal with the other nine followers of lord Zeref by yourself."

Trizent turned into some sort of werewolf with sharp claws and teeth. His fur was very long and his body had darkness flowing out of him. Trizent launched at Rycu head on, they butted heads and Rycu fell backwards.

As Rycu fell back Trizent grabbed onto his leg and smashed him into the building, Rycu pushed himself off back into Trizent and tugged on his fur to pull him over to the left and smashed him into the floor.

Trizent grabbed the whole of Rycu's body with one of his hands then started squishing him in front of his eyes. Rycu smiled and a burst of energy came out of his body and Trizent let go of Rycu.

Trizent stumbled back, covering his eyes, Rycu launched at Trizent and smashed him into the ground. Rycu backed off a bit and shouted, "Light dragon roar!" a giant beam of light came out of Rycu and blasted Trizent back, finishing him off.

Trizent's body turned back to normal and he laid there knocked out cold, Rycu let out a giant sigh of relief, "Yep, I still got my strength." Erza and Natsu made it over to where it all happened.

They saw Trizent's body on the floor but didn't recognise him, "What's going on here?" Erza demanded. Rycu looked back at Erza with his mask up and Erza felt a little relived, "Rycu!" She said in joy.

"What's been happening with you and what happened to all those wounds, we found a trail of your blood. Also who the hell is this guy?" Natsu asked. Rycu looked up at the sky and saw that it was getting dark and he realised what that meant.

"Sorry I don't have time," Rycu said as he jumped to the rooftops and sprinted off, Natsu jumped on the rooftops and chased after him. "Where are you going Rycu?" Erza shouted worriedly.

Natsu caught up to Rycu and tackled him to the ground, "Where are you going?" Natsu asked. "Sorry but I can't tell you that!" Rycu said as he pushed Natsu off of his body and continued to run away.

Natsu started running again, "Sorry Natsu," Rycu said as he turned around and punched Natsu hard in the face which put him off, by the time Natsu's vision became clear again Rycu was nowhere in sight.

Natsu crushed his fist in the floor and shouted, "Rycu!" Natsu jumped back down and Erza ran up to him, "What happened?" "I don't know what he's up to but it's something that is very dangerous and he can't do it on his own." Natsu said.

An old woman came up to them and said, "Your lives are on the line right now and Rycu's saving you by doing this mission, if he doesn't all of you will die and if I tell you this mission you'll die as well so all I can say is have faith in him."

Natsu and Erza were confused they thought, their lives were on the line and only Rycu could save them. They both knew all they could do is wait and see what happens to everyone, they had put faith in Rycu.

Rycu had continued to run across the rooftops until he finally reached the end of the city, "I've got to find Zeref and destroy that stupid artefact that he's using to control all of my friends." Rycu thought.

Rycu started to hear a voice in his head, "If you wish to fight me, my location will only be revealed once you take out all of my followers, I will make a map appear in your head which will show all of their locations so you can fight them. Good luck…Rycu." Zeref said.

The map appeared in Rycu's head and he could see where all of Zeref's followers were, Rycu could also see where the Fairy Tail members were, on the map Rycu could see Erza and Natsu were walking straight into one.

Rycu quickly dashed off to try and catch up with Natsu and Erza before they fell into the trap. Natsu and Erza were walking back through the forest they had gone through and they heard someone else walking around them.

"Who's there?" Natsu demanded. "I'm just one of Zeref's friends, I heard you are one of the people Rycu is trying to save?" The voice called. "Show yourself to us or I'll smash you into little pieces!" Natsu shouted.

Erza was looking around and suddenly she heard something smash into the ground, she turned around and Natsu had vanished. She looked back forward and a girl with platted green hair was staring her into the eye and held Natsu by his neck.

Before Erza could even get a chance to figure out what was going on she was punched in the face and smashed through some trees. The girl walked back over to Erza while dragging Natsu along with her.

She held Natsu in front of Erza and wrapped her hands around his neck, she pushed down on Natsu neck and smashed his body into Erza who was leaning up against the tree and had smashed her head on it.

Erza jumped at the girl but she dodged and smashed her head into the floor then kicked Erza across the floor. "Who are you?" Erza asked as she held her stomach in pain and tried to get back up.

The green haired girl walked over to Erza and leaned in front of her, "I told you I'm a friend of Zeref but we are actually called the elite ten. Your friend Rycu back there had beaten one of us but Trizent is the only one who will fall. Zeref would like a good fight against Rycu so I know he'll get angry and stronger when seeing your dead bodies."

"More precisely my name is Greentrie but that's all you'll ever know about me," she said as she grabbed Erza and started to crush Erza's neck. Erza tried to push her hands off of her but she was too weak.

There was a sudden smack and Greentrie fell back and someone stood before Erza. "Rycu," Erza whispered.

"I heard you plan on killing my friends and that is something I can't allow, expect this to be the end for your twisted games."


	57. Ashes

Greentrie gave Rycu a devilish look, "So we meet again do we, last time I loved seeing you all bruised and beaten with blood coughing out, I just was waiting for my turn to get some satisfaction out of beating you up but now I get to kill you."

Rycu didn't care who she was or what she already knew about him, Greentrie suddenly appeared behind him and whispered into Rycu's ear, "I have been watching you very closely, I know everything about you."

Rycu punched behind him but she appeared in front of him and kicked him back, "I'm much stronger than Trizent you know, I'm an obstacle that is in your path and that you will never get past," Greentrie said.

Her fists glowed black as she walked up to Rycu again, Rycu knew that wouldn't be the only magic she used. Rycu launched out a huge wave of fire at her but she just stuck her hand out and it all absorbed into her hand.

She appeared behind Rycu and punched him in the back which sent him rolling in the floor, to Rycu it felt like he'd been hit by a train with spike attachments. Rycu had figured out that she absorbed his magic and used it to increase her power.

Rycu thought Erza was the only one who could stand a chance against her since Greentrie couldn't absorb magic power from Erza's weapons because there is no magic in the sword itself.

The two flames in Rycu's hand disappeared and he got ready to fight again, "What are you doing Rycu?" Erza said, she did not know what sort of complicated magic that Greentrie was using.

"I don't need magic to beat this punk and it won't even work against her, my fists are the strongest weapon I have against her," Rycu said. Rycu launched at Greentrie and punched her back.

Greentrie had tried to absorb Rycu's magic power but she couldn't, Rycu launched at her again and swung at her. Greentrie ducked and kicked him in the air, ten black shards appeared around her body and flew at Rycu.

Rycu got hit by the first shard and it made a clean cut through his shoulder, Rycu grabbed the second shard and threw it into the third. Rycu kicked the fourth shard and smashed it into thousands of pieces.

The fifth shard flew directly past him but then looped back around and smashed him into the rest. Rycu's body was pushed towards Greentrie as he fell towards he she swung a punch which missed.

Rycu moved out the way of her punch mid-air and smashed her in the head with his foot, Rycu noticed she took the hit like it was nothing and that's when he had realised he had to find the perfect opportunity to finish her with his strongest magic attack since ordinary attacks had no effect.

Rycu charged at Greentrie and swung at her, Greentrie raised her guard and reinforced it with her other arm. When Rycu hit her she slid her feet along the floor a couple of meters back into the trees.

Rycu jumped at her again but as he reached her she whacked him back with her arm and punched him back with her other arm. She then appeared next to Rycu and threw him through a couple of trees.

Rycu rolled his eyes at her as he slowly pulled himself back up, "I've got no more time to waste with you, I need to take out the other eight of you, the I can take down Zeref and then all this madness will be over and everyone can be at peace."

"Peace? There will never be such thing as peace in a world of magic, we will always fight, there will always be those people who stare into darkness and realise that death and destruction is the only thing that magic brings." Greentrie said.

Greentrie picked up Erza by her hair, "Look at this girl, she's pathetic and weak, those are the kind of people we can't share space with in this world. Everyone who is pathetic and weak needs to die to make way for lord Zeref's new generation!"

"New generation?" Rycu asked. "You'll never find out what that means, it will mean nothing to you because you're the next person on the list that needs to die! No one can stand in the way of Zeref's plan!" Greentrie said.

Greentrie was about to say another sentence but she was cut off, when Greentrie looked down she had a sword through her heart and when she looked up to see who delivered the blow Rycu looked her straight in the eye.

Rycu let go and Greentrie fell backwards and crashed into the floor, she stuck both her hands out and grabbed the sword. Greentrie pulled the sword out and it flew through the air onto the ground and a bit of blood followed, squirting out her chest.

She looked up at Rycu and smiled, Rycu lit a flame in his hand and slowly walked towards her and the flame got larger as he walked. "Are you an idiot, I can absorb all magic!" Greentrie shouted.

Greentrie tried to absorb all of Rycu's magic but it wouldn't work, she looked at her hands in confusion, "What have you done to me!" "Your magic has to go through your whole body to benefit you, when I stabbed you I stopped that circulation from happening." Rycu explained.

"Your just like everyone else, you are human, your magic doesn't protect your most basic weaknesses." Rycu said. Greentrie fell to the floor holding her hand over her heart with blood pouring out.

Rycu walked up to her and picked her up by her neck, "Rycu stop, please!" Erza shouted over to him. Rycu glimpsed back at Erza, Rycu smashed Greentrie through the floor and she was done.

"How could I lose?" Greentrie thought, her body faded away into ashes that were being lifted into the sky and they came back to Zeref and the book Zeref was holding absorbed the ashes of Greentrie.

"I must say I'm impressed Rycu, maybe you will be a worthy challenger."


	58. The Triple Threat

Once all the ashes had disappeared Rycu looked up to the sky and breathed a sigh of relief, when he looked at the sky he saw that the last of the light in the sky was vanishing and he realised what would now happen.

Erza looked up at Rycu, "Please just tell me what's going on, you can trust me, we're friends, we are supposed to be able to tell each other our problems and we all work together to help one another."

Rycu looked back at the ground and he had felt a little guilty, she needed him but Rycu couldn't go near her for much longer, "I am sorry Erza but this is for your safety, your life depends on it."

"I can't just be a tool any longer, I refuse to be!" Erza shouted. Rycu kneeled down at Erza, "I have to protect my little sis don't I?" Erza had no more words to say, Rycu put her to sleep with a spell he had learnt off Eileen.

Rycu got up and moved to his next location which was Tyconi, as Rycu disappeared through the trees, someone who had watched him approached Erza's helpless body, "A Foolish mistake indeed," the man said.

When Rycu had arrived at his location he stood outside of a centre of some sort of training area and let himself in. When he walked in he walked directly into the centre and looked around for the enemy.

At the location he was now there was supposed to be three more of the Elite ten, Rycu had no information on them so he felt like he was just walking into the room where he would be executed for committing a crime.

Suddenly three shadows with swords jumped out of nowhere and sliced at Rycu, Rycu lifted his leg and swung around in a circle, kicking all of them as far as he could away from him so he could examine them.

When Rycu looked at them they had some sort of ninja outfit on that covered up to their mouth. They all wielded swords and were circling around Rycu but they seemed to show no kind of magic.

"We're just basic ninjas, no magic can overpower us, not even Zeref his self can beat us though we have never fought against him. Our swords are strong enough to slice through anything, with this anything can be destroyed." One of the ninjas said.

One of the ninjas jumped and sliced at Rycu but he jumped out of the way, another one came up while he was mid-air and sliced his back. The last ninja jumped up and slammed Rycu into the ground with the back of his sword.

One of the ninjas jumped up and held his sword downwards to stab it into Rycu's chest but he had managed to roll out of the way and one the ninja had landed Rycu kicked him along the floor.

Rycu grabbed the sword which was stabbed into the ground and tried to break it but it wouldn't. As the other two ninjas jumped at him Rycu rolled onto his back and sliced at their swords with the one he picked up.

Rycu then jumped up towards them and sliced them into the ground, as one of them pulled their self back up they dragged their sword along the ground and it cut through the floor deeply.

He sliced the sword at Rycu head but he managed to duck beneath it and roll back, another ninja stood behind him and sliced their sword down which missed by not even a hair and broke another tile in the ground.

Rycu could barely keep up with all three of them at once and he started to get tired, they all dived forward at Rycu with their swords pointing directly at Rycu. Rycu jumped above them and kicked two ninjas in the head.

He grabbed the two of the ninja's bodies, spun them around and threw their bodies into the last standing ninja. "Maybe your magic isn't the weakest I've ever seen but from the looks of it your nowhere near Zerefs power." One ninja said.

All three of their swords glowed a different neon colour as they all jumped at him again, "This is gifted with the power of lord Zeref himself, you clearly have no chance anymore." Another ninja said.

They dragged their swords along the ground and cut a hole which the ninjas and Rycu fell down. As they fell one ninja dived at Rycu but he managed to kick the sword up and kicked the ninja in the face.

On ninja suddenly appeared above him and kicked him faster down the hole, Rycu gripped his feet onto a piece of rubble that slowed his fall, when Rycu looked down he saw a pit of acid.

Rycu jumped off pieces of rubble, quickly making his way back up, the three ninjas who were watching down laughing at Rycu lost attention of him and started celebrating their victory.

"That was easier than I thought!" One ninja exclaimed. As they were laughing suddenly one of them was swiped out of the air like a cat pouncing on a bird, "I thought ninjas were supposed to be disciplined?" Rycu said as he held his hand on the ninjas head which he was squashing between the rock.

He lifted up the ninjas head and smashed it into the rock which broke it into pieces, he then grabbed a giant rock which was one hundred times bigger than him like it was nothing and threw it into the other ninjas.

One of the ninjas launched a giant laser beam out of his sword which broke the giant rock into trillions of pieces. The shower of rocks fell on the ninjas but they barely managed to keep away from the acid.

Rycu looked down at them, "I think it's time to end this," Rycu said. Rycu charged down as fast as he could with his flaming fist trailing behind him, as he fell down it grew larger until it was the size of the giant hole they had made.

All three ninjas looked up and gripped together in fear, "What the hell! How does he do that!" One of them exclaimed. As Rycu fell he pulled a smile on his face and his momentum grew larger.

Rycu punched into all three of them at once which blasted them down into the pit of acid at light speed. "Sorry, it's every man for himself!" One ninja said as he jumped off the other two's bodies and launched towards Rycu.

"I'm not done yet!" Rycu shouted. Both of them crashed into each other and blasted the other back. The ninja jumped up and grabbed Rycu, "If I die you're going to die with me and I'll be remembered by Zeref even if I die!"

Suddenly Rycu disappeared from the ninjas hands and when the ninja looked up he saw Rycu staring down at him still with a smile. Rycu looked away as all their bodies were devoured by the acid.

Like Greentrie they all turned into ashes which were absorbed by the book Zeref held in his hand, "My word Rycu you are brutal." Zeref said.

Rycu was halfway through this nightmare.


	59. The Two Wizards Fall

Once Rycu had left the area he made his way for the next area which was called Quombo, as he made his way through the woods suddenly a black gloved hand reached out and pulled him into the bushed while covering his mouth.

"Quiet," The person said and as Rycu looked up he was it was Eileen. Eileen let go of Rycu, "What's happening?" Rycu asked. Eileen pointed towards a large camp with many members of Zeref inside.

"Inside of there is one of the Elite ten, you need to take him down, from what I know he is very strong so don't underestimate him or you can kiss goodbye to saving everyone else." Eileen said.

"Are you fighting too?" Rycu asked. "I can help take out the troops but the Elite ten member is all down to you," Eileen explained. They both slowly snuck over to where the camp was and came from behind.

All the troops in the camp were just moving about, preparing for if anything were to attack them, one of them shouted out, "Hey! What's going on over there!?" They looked over and all the tents were being set on fire.

Suddenly Rycu and Eileen burst out of cover and started to annihilate the whole army, all of them approached and Rycu roared fire at them all which blasted all of them back, Eileen scratched and knocked them over with her claws.

The member of the Elite ten just observed as they fought and leaned back in his chair, "Interesting, I know who would be a perfect match for him but he will have to get past me first," he said.

Rycu clapped his hands together and a giant ball of fire came out and wiped them all out, he then punched one of the troops which he knocked into another group which were charging at Rycu.

Rycu suddenly stopped as he heard someone start to clap, "Quite impressive magic you've got there, it would be very interesting to go up against someone with that amount of power pilled inside of them," the man said.

Rycu looked over to his right as he saw the man, he looked normal but Rycu could also feel immense power in him, something he would rarely feel from a wizard, the last time he felt this much power was around August and Eileen.

"Before you ask, my name is Daftu, I may not be the strongest out of the Elite ten but I am still very strong and I intend to end your life as fast as possible so this stupid one sided war is over with."

"I can trust that you will be able to take him out, I'll take care of all these troops," Eileen said as she blasted a group of them back. "Yeah, I'll be able to take him out but I hope he goes down with a fight at least," Rycu said.

Both of them bent their knees then launched at each other, as they came closer to one another a chain came out of Daftu's hand what wrapped around Rycu's arm and smashed him into the floor.

Rycu tried to break the chain but it didn't even have a dent in it, Daftu pulled on the chain so it made Rycu get pulled towards him. Daftu punched Rycu and made him flip back but Rycu kicked him in the face.

The chain on Rycu's hand suddenly became weak and Rycu managed to break it with enough force. The shards of the chain flew back but after a small amount of time they all lit up and exploded.

Daftu jumped through and the chain reappeared back in his hand good as new, Daftu punched Rycu backwards and tried to wrap the chain around him but Rycu rolled out the way and pounced at Daftu.

Daftu and Rycu collided their foot mid-air which blasted both of them higher, Rycu tried to kick Daftu in the head but Daftu grabbed Rycu's foot and threw him into the floor then landed on him.

Another chain crawled out of Daftu's hand and wrapped Rycu's legs together, the chain slowly pulled in and Rycu couldn't get out so all Rycu did was wiggle his legs around until he could get out.

Rycu was slowly being dragged towards Daftu who had his fist ready to slam down on Rycu, the chains around Rycu's legs suddenly broke apart, Rycu looked over and Eileen had her staff pointing towards where the chains were.

Rycu got himself up and swiped all the chain shards away and they exploded on Daftu, Daftu looked at Rycu and launched a chain that wrapped around his arm, the chain Rycu had around him shot out a beam of electricity and made him fall to the floor.

Rycu tried to pull himself up but the chain kept shooting out different elements but they still hurt Rycu massively. Rycu started to pull himself up but Daftu punched him back down and sent out another shock of electricity.

Another element shot out of the chain around him but nothing happened to Rycu, the beam suddenly came out of Rycu and smashed into Daftu which made him loosen the grip on the chain.

The chain on Rycu collapsed and the explosion didn't even make him flinch, he slowly walked up to Daftu, taking each hit, when he got to Daftu he punched him through the ground and walked up to him.

Daftu pulled out his chain and stabbed it into his foot and it then shot out a beam of dark energy. Rycu's body slowly fell backwards but four chains sprouted out of the ground and head each limb out.

Rycu's head was bowed forward and he couldn't do much more, Daftu lifted his head up and looked him in the eye, "Your games over now, I win this battle and there's nothing you can do."

Eileen tried to help Rycu but she was being pushed back by the troops. Daftu smiled and each chain that held Rycu shot out beams of every element rapidly and Rycu let out screams of pain.

Daftu wrapped a chain around Rycu's neck which launched out beams of electricity and left him near death. Daftu did it over and over again but Rycu still managed to hold on and held his hand in a fist.

Daftu was extremely surprised that Rycu was holding on this long, "I wonder, what is it that is helping you last so long under pain which should instantly have killed you? Is there some sort of trick?"

"No there is no trick, I just know I have to keep holding on if I want to save my friends, I promised that I won't let them die and I intent on keeping that promise, that's it," Rycu explained.

"I need to rid people like you if I want to give my friends a bright future, a future where they can laugh and cry with each other, enjoy their memories, be a family again where no one can hurt them anymore." Rycu continued.

The chains suddenly just fell off of Rycu and retreated back into the ground as Rycu approached Daftu. As Rycu walked, his whole body lit with a giant golden flame that nearly blinded everyone.

"This is for them!" Rycu shouted as he punched Daftu square in the face and sent him flying across the area and crash through hundreds of trees where his body laid motionless and like everyone else his ashes went into the book of Zeref.

As the smoke cleared Eileen could see Rycu clearly and that was where his body fell.


	60. Did you miss me?

When Rycu woke up he was staring into the night sky next to a fire and when he looked to his left he saw Eileen was holding him in her arms. Eileen was running her fingers through Rycu's hair, hoping he was ok.

Eileen could feel movement so she looked down and saw Rycu was awake so she gave him a giant hug, "You sure had me worried for you, don't make me worry like that again," Eileen said.

"How aren't you affected by that stick Zeref has?" Rycu asked. "I caught onto everything about this stick fast so I used by magic to make me unaffected by it but it only works for dark wizards," Eileen explained.

Rycu's eyes started to get heavy and he was starting to fall back asleep, "Now I know you're ok I think it's time to get some rest, same goes for you, you still have bad injuries from the last fight," Eileen explained.

Eileen laid down on the floor and cuddled up to Rycu before they both fell back to sleep, the next morning they had both woken up, "You need to stay here, I'm going to go and find some stuff to help your injuries," Eileen explained.

And with that Eileen left Rycu on his own for a while, nothing really happened for a couple of hours, he just laid on the floor, waiting till something happened or Eileen got back with all the supplies.

While he waited he heard something stepping around the woods, he could hear all of the snapping branches as he or it walked around. He heard a growl and it then pounced out onto Rycu.

Rycu held his arms out and held the wolf a fair amount of distance away from him as he chomped, trying to bite him. Rycu couldn't hold on any longer and the wolf reached him then bit his arm.

The wolf stepped back a bit before he sprinted towards Rycu again, just as the wolf jumped into the air Rycu closed his eyes but then heard it howl as something had hit him while he was attacking.

The wolf got up and ran off, Rycu gripped onto his arm as blood poured out and he looked up to see Eileen, "What did I tell you about making me worried?" Eileen said as she kneeled down and started bandaging him up.

Eileen bandaged all the broken parts of his body and let him take some more rest, over the next few days Eileen had nursed hit back to health and he was able to walk and use his magic again at full power.

"Right, use your magic now, this is the last check I need to do," Eileen said. Rycu pointed his hand out and lit a flame in his hand, Eileen smiled, "Perfect, I think we can go to Quombo and take out the seventh member of the Elite ten."

"Do you know anything about this member?" Rycu asked. "All I know is that they use sword magic, his power is immense so it's up to you, all I can do is help escort you to them and cover your back when you fight him," Eileen said.

Rycu looked at his body which was covered in bandages, "You really think I can take on a demon slayer in this state, anyway, I'm sure there will be other members that have much more power."

Eileen put her hand on Rycu's shoulder, "We're from the same bloodline, we are some of the strongest wizards around the entire world. I'm sure you can take out some lowly demon slayer, after all, you are the strongest dragon slayer."

Rycu thought for a moment, "You're right, I can't give up the fight, they hurt us and this is payback, they can't get away with doing this. Anyway, shall we make our way over to Quombo soon?" Rycu asked.

Eileen looked up to the sky and the night sky was disappearing, "I suppose we can go now, it seems that the sky is turning bright again so let's go now," Eileen stood up and put Rycu's arm around her shoulder.

"Your walking still isn't stable so for the meantime I'll help you till it gets a bit better because we don't want it to get worse otherwise you won't be able to fight the Elite ten for much longer," Eileen said.

Over the journey Rycu's walking had improved so he walked without Eileen's aid, by the time they had reached Quombo it was midday, Eileen and Rycu hadn't rested since they had set off.

"Ah, we're finally here, that journey felt like we were walking for an infinite amount of time, maybe we should rest on this hill for a while, we're both pretty tired to be honest," Rycu said.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea right now, I haven't had any rest for the last couple of days," Eileen said. They both laid down on top of the hill for a while before they both fell asleep for some hours.

They were both resting quietly until they were both awakened by some giant explosions and the screaming of people. Both Eileen and Rycu leaned up and looked at each other in confusion.

"What the hell's going on?" Rycu said. They both looked over to the town, the buildings were smashed to pieces and it was swarmed with fire. Rycu and Eileen both stood up and dashed towards the town.

"Turn back!" Some people shouted as they pushed past Rycu, they could hear more noise coming from the centre of the town so that's where they moved closer towards, when they reached the centre they ran up to a woman's body and gently shook it.

"Hey! What happened here?" Rycu asked. "Some random person stormed into town and started to destroy everything on sight, I ran away but he caught up to me and he started to beat me up." The girl responded.

Rycu and Eileen heard someone approaching them from behind so they turned around to face him.

"Did you miss me old friend?"


	61. Blood Thirsty

(I've been writing a few future chapters because I had ideas that were fresh in my mind so when I get to that point in the story they will be uploaded instantly)

Rycu looked shocked, "It's you, metal mask man," "Just call me Sliceter, I hate being called metal masked man," he said. Eileen was confused, "Who is this guy and what do you already know about this creep?"

"This is the person who almost killed Natsu and Erza, I have beaten him once before but from my guess he's gotten a lot stronger so you should move back a bit. This guy's going to be a struggle," Rycu said.

Eileen took a few steps back, "Sorry, you're not escaping this," Sliceter said. Within an instant Eileen had been smashed through the floor and was out cold, Rycu had no time to react the next thing he knew Sliceter was stood next to him.

"Show time!" Sliceter sliced his sword next to him so it would run into Rycu, Rycu dodged out the way of it and tried to smash the sword but it cut his hand clean and blood dripped onto the floor.

Sliceter looked and he saw he had some blood on his sword, he swiped it off and licked it, "It's an amazing taste, especially when it comes straight from my victims. That's why I won't more out of you, it's why I play with my victims like you!"

He suddenly seemed to go all crazy as he launched at Rycu, he sliced his sword at Rycu and it cut his hands but it seemed like Rycu was perfectly fine when he was far from it, the blood dripped onto the floor.

As Sliceter landed on the floor, Rycu felt hundreds of sword slices on his body, "No way, he has time manipulation magic? I don't stand a chance!" "You see, only demons have the power to move when time has stopped and the person who used the spell," Sliceter said.

Rycu just stood still thinking and Sliceter was stood opposite him yet the next thing Rycu knew he was blasted far back. "I have to somehow awaken my demon powers but that's impossible for me to do by myself," Rycu thought.

"Aww, need some help buddy? Just not strong enough? How about this!" Sliceter lifted up Eileen's body and held a sword to her neck, "You wouldn't dare!" Rycu shouted as the darkness slowly built around his arms.

"Don't worry I won't kill her, just have some fun!" Sliceter gently sliced his sword along Eileen's cheek which made blood flow from it, Sliceter ran one of his fingers along the pool of blood from the cheek and licked it.

He continued to run his sword along parts of her body and he licked the blood, "You're just sick," Rycu said. Sliceter smiled he lifted up his sword and it glowed yellow, he smashed it down on Eileen's chest and Rycu couldn't believe it.

"You sick person!" Rycu shouted as the darkness grew around his arms and his body became slumped over, his wings of darkness sprouted from his back and the dark aura appeared around him.

"I'm gonna make you pay and you're gonna get it back twice as hard as her!" Rycu shouted. Sliceter used his magic to freeze time and suddenly everything around them stopped, nothing other than them moved.

The blood stopped flowing, the air stopped mobbing, the fire stopped burning the city, nothing whatsoever moved. Rycu's hands had claws sprouting out that were completely black and had a great magical presence.

Sliceter jumped towards Rycu with his sword pointing forward directly at his heart, Rycu stuck his hand out and the sword pierced into his hand and made black blood flow out of his hand.

Rycu closed his fist and it broke the sword into millions of pieces, Rycu's eye turned black and Sliceter was blasted back and he smashed into the wall. The wall he smashed into, the stone broke but the pieces stayed floating in the air.

Sliceter looked up and his eye turned red, he stood back up and a sword grew in his hand, it sprouted out his hand and it glowed entirely blue and it would normally blind a person but it had no effect on the darkness in Rycu's eyes.

Sliceter jumped forward and sliced at the dark part of Rycu's arm and it came clean off but it didn't hurt Rycu a bit. When it hit the floor the part of Rycu's arm disintegrated and grew back on Rycu's arm.

It looked even stronger than before and the muscles in it tensioned. "What kind of demon are you?" Sliceter asked. "All I'll say to you is, I have a history with Zeref, we go extremely far back," Rycu explained.

Sliceter was shocked, "Wait, you have a past with Zeref, how come we were never told about your history together?" "You can go ask Zeref himself and he may give you the answers, that is if you live long enough," Rycu threatened.

Rycu suddenly seemed to have gone crazy, his eyes turned white again and were open wide, his claws and teeth got sharper and his wings grew twice as large, "Since your human you can't return to the book of Zeref, so I think I'll just tear you apart right now!"

Sliceter stepped a few steps back, "Sorry, if Eileen can't leave then neither can you!" Rycu shouted. Rycu turned into a shadow and dodged all of Sliceter's attacks like he was dodging a baby.

Rycu appeared around Sliceter and he stabbed both of his claws into Sliceter's back and started to pry. Rycu made one final push and let out a giant roar of anger as he split Sliceter's body into two pieces, killing him instantly.

Rycu suddenly unleashed all his anger at one and he repeatedly smashed Sliceter's body to mush. He eventually stopped and he let out many deep breaths as he looked at himself and saw he was covered in Sliceter's blood.

Time suddenly went back to normal and everything moved again, Rycu walked over and picked up Eileen's unconscious body. He put her around his shoulder and made his journey out of the town.

Zeref was watching, he saw it all through the glass ball but he was pleased to see that Rycu's demonic powers were now unleashing just as Zeref hoped it would do.

"My, my Rycu, you truly are ruthless, I'll be awaiting your fight with the last three Elite ten, they will stand no chance and your power will unleash."


	62. Going somewhere?

Rycu made his way out of the city and into a nearby forest were he found a giant waterfall, Rycu put Eileen's body by the water and used his healing magic so the scars would disappear and so she would know nothing happened to her.

Rycu went into the water which washed off all of the blood on his body, "Guess I could do some training here," Rycu thought. He sat down directly underneath where the water would land so it felt like he had boulders thrown at his head.

Rycu stayed there for an hour and during the time he thought about the remaining three Elite ten members, "So I guess we're going to Sward next, there's two other wizards there and they use creation and ice magic."

Rycu was continuing to train until he movement from Eileen, he got up and walked over to Eileen's body, he bent down and looked at Eileen for a while until her eye finally sprung wide open.

She looked around and took a while to get things strait, "What happened?" Eileen asked. "Sliceter knocked you out cold so I fought him and won the battle then I grabbed you and got out of the city, right now I'm heading to Sward next," Rycu explained.

Eileen looked and she could see a wound on his hand from when the sword went through it and she could see a faint line of a cut along his wrist from when his arm was cut off and it regrew.

Eileen got up and grabbed his hand, "What on Earth happened to you, it obviously wasn't an easy victory was it, you poor thing, it looks like that a would like this would be devastating to handle," Eileen said worriedly.

Rycu pulled his hand back to him, "I'm fine, let's just move along and forget that ever happened," Rycu turned around and started to walk along but stopped when he heard someone rushing through the bushes.

Rycu picked up their sent immediately, he could tell it was Natsu, Natsu sprung out of the bushes and tripped over but he crashed into Rycu, "What are you doing here Natsu?" Rycu asked.

"When I woke up after you took out that weird girl, Erza was gone, I checked back at the guild but no one has seen her in ages. For the past few days I've been searching, I found that city you trashed and picked up your sent so I followed you," Natsu explained.

"Look, you can calm down, I'm sure we'll cross paths with her soon, you should head back to Fairy Tail, there's nothing you can do here only me and Eileen can fix this situation we're in," Rycu said.

"Well at least let me travel with you, I need to know Erza's ok," Natsu protested. "Natsu just go back, she'll be fine you can trust me!" Rycu exclaimed. "I'm not leaving; I don't care what you're doing if it involves us then we all are in!" Natsu shouted.

Rycu let out a giant breath of frustration, "Fine, but you're not fighting, you just watch, if your life is on the line then you're the one he who can't be carelessly charging head first into battle most of the time."

"Fine, I know that these battles your fighting have something to do with Zeref so I can't stand out the way and let this happen on my watch, I can at least help you in some sort of way can't I?" Natsu asked.

Rycu just ignored him and started moving through the forest again, "What's wrong with him?" Natsu asked Eileen. "I don't really know but just leave him be for a while," Eileen explained.

Rycu headed east of the forest which was where sward was located, they travelled for a long couple of hours before they finally arrived just out of the city, Natsu had been traveling non-stop for the fast few days.

"Ugh, can we take a break yet my backs absolutely killing me, I am starting to get really tired as well," Natsu complained. "Sorry, I'm not stopping yet, I'm not going to stop until this whole thing's over," Rycu explained.

"Cut us some slack man, we haven't had a break in at all, we need to stop for a while, I don't care what situation it is we need rest!" Natsu shouted. Rycu had his fist clenched, Eileen could tell he was getting angry.

"If you want to stop then do it, I'm not waiting though, I'll leave you behind if I have to, the quicker we get this done then the quicker we can be at peace again, isn't that what you want?" Rycu asked.

Eileen slapped both of them in the face, "You two stop acting so god damn childish already, we will rest in the town at an in weather you like it or not Rycu, tomorrow we'll fight the next two people."

Rycu grabbed one of their ears each and dragged them into the town and held onto them until they reached just outside of an inn. "Jeeze that hurt a ton, you didn't have to almost pull it off!" Natsu complained as Eileen let go.

All three of them went inside and booked a room which was numbered 509, when they got inside it was fairly large room with three separate beds and a balcony that gave you the view of the night sky.

Natsu jumped onto his bed and started bouncing on it rapidly, "I can get used to this!" It was towards midnight so Eileen and Natsu fell fast asleep but Rycu stayed awake and leaned over at the balcony.

Rycu was thinking about his past with Zeref and what happened to him back then but he thought he would spare the story for another day when this nightmare was over but that's when Rycu remembered the stick.

Rycu looked back at Natsu and he could sense the darkness rising from his body rapidly, Rycu grabbed all his things and ran as fast as he could through the street, no one was awake at this time so Rycu ran as far as he could, that was when he crossed paths with them.

Rycu stopped running as soon as he heard the words, "going somewhere…Rycu?"


	63. One left

Rycu stopped and looked around in confusion, he could see no one even close to him and two people stepped out of the shadows with a devilish look on their faces, Rycu knew these were part of the Elite ten.

"I am Rutry, I use creation magic, this is Lucely, she uses ice magic. As you probably have already guessed, we are two members of the Elite ten and we are one of the most powerful out of all ten," Rutry said.

"From my understanding, you have taken out seven of the us so far so that means us two and one more are the last three, I can't lie when I say I am Impressed but even if you get past us you won't get past the last member or Zeref himself," Lucely said.

"Alright then, do we get to fight now?" Rycu asked. Rutry smiled as Rycu could feel the floor beneath him start to shake, a giant spiked stone blasted out of the ground and almost pierced Rycu as he jumped high into the air.

Lucely made ice arrows appear and she launched all of the at Rycu but he burnt them all with his fire. Lucely then made an ice eagle launch out which rammed directly into Rycu and flew him into the floor.

Some ice shards had pierced into his body but then just meted on the spot. Rycu pulled himself up to face them both. They both looked down, pleased with themselves, Rycu teleported behind them and smashed their two heads together.

Rycu then kicked Rutry off the building, as Lucely made an ice bazooka and blasted it a point blank range into Rycu which blasted him into the building. The rocks behind him blasted into him and blasted him forward again.

Lucely aimed her bazooka at Rycu again but he managed to dodge it and kick her in the face as hard as he could. Rutry placed his hand on the floor and it glowed, Rycu looked beneath him and he could hear something growing.

Suddenly a tree burst out from underneath him which launched him into the air, some sort of apples grew on the tree and exploded into yellow smoke that covered the tree and made it change.

The tree became some giant monster, it sprouted out two giant wooden arms, eyes and mouth appeared, the leaves on top became razor sharp and the roots of the tree burst out and became legs.

Rutry made tens of them and Lucely gave them an ice shell, Rycu tried to melt it off but it wouldn't. He gave one of them a giant punch as well but it only left one very small crack that was barely visible.

Lucely made hundreds of giant ice beasts made of the same indestructible ice, "I can't do anything against them now, I can't win unless I have my golden flames, only they could do the job here but they only come from someone like Jellal," Rycu thought.

Rycu had an idea, he lit a flame in each of his hands, one was black, one was white and they were both bursting with electricity, Rycu held his two hands together and the flame became the most powerful it could.

The flame in Rycu's hand was half bright yellow and half dark red, all the monsters charged at Rycu at once, Rycu leaned his hand back then launched it forward which made a giant wave of fire launch at the monsters and it melted the shell of ice.

Rycu jumped from tree to tree, destroying everyone in his path, Lucely made a giant ice bazooka which was loaded with an endless amount of snow. Lucely fired it and it launched out snow non-stop.

Rycu charged directly towards it and his whole body was burning with fire, Rycu launched through all of the snow and kept pushing against it, he managed to reach the other side and jumped out of the snow, smashing Lucely into the ground.

Rutry launched the ground beneath them up into the air so Lucely blasted into Rycu and smashed him over to Rutry. Rutry's fist grew stone around it and he punched Rycu straight into one of his monstrous trees.

The tree grabbed Rycu and squashed his arms face down so he couldn't move and he held on tight. Rutry and Lucely walked over to Rycu, "I expected more of a fight, how did you take out the others if you're pathetically weak!" Rutry exclaimed.

"You'll never get near Zeref; we wouldn't allow it so what should we do with him now? I suggest we kill him on the spot," Lucely suggested. She made an ice sword appear in her hand and held it up to Rycu's neck.

She pulled the sword through and it sliced Rycu's neck but there was no blood, they turned around and saw that Rycu was leaning up against the wall, watching them in their dumbfounded look.

They looked at the clone and its body began to disappear, "Did you have fun with my clone?" Rycu asked. They were so confused and shocked that they had no time to catch up with what was happening.

"No response? I've had enough fun with you anyway," Rycu said. He smashed both of them together and stepped back a bit, he leaned his head back and sent out a giant roar of electrified fire at both of them which turned them straight to ash.

Like all the other their ashes were sealed on Zeref's book that he held, "I see it seems we're nearing the end to our little game, I was enjoying it to be honest, that is if he could beat my most powerful member of the Elite ten."

Back where Rycu was he looked around at all the mess they had made over the duration of the fight, "That wasn't a half bad fight to be honest," Rycu thought to himself as he leaned against a wall.

"But this isn't over yet"


	64. The Dragon Slayers Fall

Rycu knew he couldn't go back to Eileen and Natsu, he knew it wasn't right but he wanted to finish this by himself. He knew there was only one left, he knew they was in Durnate which was a city.

He started the journey as soon as he got some of his magic back, he got out of the town after a while of walking, on the journey to Durnate he travelled down a long stone path that carriages of people would go down.

After a long tiresome walk, Rycu had finally reach the city, he could see it from a far distance, it had a great castle which was where Rycu would meet his foe and fight them in a one on one.

When he reached the gates to the city there were a few guards who was awaiting Rycu's arrival and they let him pass them as their bodies shook nervously, no one wanted to make him angry.

Rycu slowly made his way through the city, it was bustling with people but they all stopped as he got close, in the middle of the street stood a hooded man who signalled Rycu to follow him.

Rycu followed him along the path until he reached the castle and followed the hooded man into a giant sort of large stadium where people watched eagerly as two other men were fighting in the middle.

Rycu watched as they both stopped fighting as the hooded man approached them and they both moved off the battle area. The hooded man and Rycu stood opposite each other in the centre.

"Thank you for keeping our guests entertained," said the man as he pulled off his hood and Rycu recognised him. He knew it was Laxus. Rycu wasn't fazed by the dramatic reveal or his final opponent being a member of Fairy Tail.

"Aww, come on Rycu, I expected a better reaction," Laxus said. "Anyways, welcome to my arena, where the strongest wizards fight to keep me entertained but now I get to entertain my people as I smash your head in."

"Since when did you own this city?" Rycu asked. "I saved these people from a giant ferocious beast that had them all at mercy and this was the way they thought to pay me back," Laxus explained.

"If you're wondering, I don't work under Zeref, I only joined him so I could pound your face him, after this everything will be back to normal. I know about your secrets and I know what will happen if your around much longer so I need you gone," Laxus said.

Everyone in the crowd shouted fight so Laxus and Rycu launched at each other. As they were about to collide Laxus turned into a tiny spark of electricity and reappeared behind Rycu and blasted him forward.

"I know about you, you know about me, point is, we both have lightning dragon slayer magic don't we," Laxus said. Rycu made his hand poison and he started to listen for Laxus' next move.

Laxus lunged at Rycu but he leaned out the way and kicked him high up and they both roared a lightning bolt at each other. Which made a giant spark blast and made the crowd look in amazement.

They jumped at each other and collided fists in the air, Laxus punched Rycu with his other hand but at the same time Rycu scratched along Laxus' arm which made poison that made Laxus a little dizzy.

Rycu sprung at him again and punched Laxus in the face, Laxus grabbed Rycu's arm and slammed him into the floor, Laxus brought his foot up over Rycu's head and it launched out an electric shock blast which smashed him through the floor.

Laxus pointed a finger at Rycu and a lightning bolt crashed down on Rycu, it didn't hurt Rycu at all. The electricity ran through his body and made more powerful and made his eyes glow completely yellow.

Rycu's whole body had electricity bouncing from it as he approached Laxus, Rycu sent out a ginormous lightning bolt straight at Laxus, he tried to absorb it to power him up but it wouldn't work and it hit him directly which hurt him.

"If you didn't notice, I mixed other elements into that lightning bolt so you can't absorb it just as it comes towards you, it takes much more effort than that to absorb an element other than you own," Rycu explained.

Laxus look furious at Rycu, Laxus changed into dragon force mode, the outline of scales grew around his arms, his teeth got sharper and his muscles got twice as large, he even increased in size.

He charged at Rycu and smashed him into the floor, Laxus jumped off the wall and smashed Rycu into the other. Rycu kicked Laxus away and manage to keep himself floating in the air, Laxus jumped up and smashed both of them through the ceiling.

Rycu kicked Laxus off of him so they were spread apart from each other, like Rycu Laxus had electricity jumping through his body. "Your reign ends right here!" Rycu shouted to Laxus as he sprung over.

He punched Laxus but he grabbed his arm so Rycu tried to kick him but Laxus grabbed his leg so Rycu's body was spread out. Laxus raised his head and smashed it into Rycu's chest which broke a few of his ribs.

"Let's end this the way it's supposed to!" Laxus shouted as he smashed Rycu across the roof and shot him with lightning while he was off-guard. Laxus walked over and picked up Rycu's struggling body.

"Had enough?" Laxus shouted as he smashed Rycu through more pillars. Rycu was about to be finished off by Laxus but then he stopped for a moment and thought about all of the others in the guild.

He wiped the thoughts away and stomped his foot on Rycu, "Your game's up, you lost the fight," Laxus said. Rycu started to move a bit but then Laxus stomped on I even harder than before.

"The victor has been decided!" Laxus shouted, "I am the winner of this fight!" He shouted as he kicked Rycu's body along the floor, which broke many more bones in his body, enough so he could barely move.

"Not yet," Rycu said as he barely could pull himself up, Laxus walked over to Rycu and smashed his head into the ground repeatedly but Rycu stood up again and clenched his fist tightly.

Rycu was battered, he had broken bones everywhere, blood coming from lots of parts of his body, all of Rycu's body became significantly stronger and he made himself walk properly so he could land one final attack.

Laxus was about to land the killing blow but he stopped and pulled his arm back as he felt the pain of poison eating away quickly at his skin. Rycu charged up to Laxus with a giant flame in his hand.

Rycu leaned his fist back and launched it forward which directly hit Laxus and a giant blast of fire launched out and finished off Laxus for good, Rycu had managed to pull through the fight and come out victorious.

Both Laxus and Rycu stood still, staring at each other and they both passed out, everyone was in confusion and didn't know what to do about the situation.

"I'll be awaiting you arrival, Rycu"


	65. Her last breath

Rycu woke up and found himself in some sort of medical room that they us, he looked over to his left and saw Laxus completely passed out on the bed next to him, he had lots of cuts, broken bones and bruises on his body like Rycu.

Rycu looked to his right and to his surprise he saw Eileen and Natsu, "Oh, hey Rycu, decided to wake have you?" Natsu said cheerfully. "Wait, how did the two of you get here?" Rycu asked.

"According to the people here, you and Laxus have been out cold for the past week, we found those other Elite members you fought and Natsu followed you sent from there, when we arrived we found you and Laxus in here all beaten, you had me worried!" Eileen said.

"Who did you and Laxus fight? You both had injuries that could have killed you both," Natsu said. "Oh, the last member I had to fight was Laxus, I wouldn't say either of us won that fight," Rycu explained.

"Say what? Laxus has been working for Zeref?" Natsu asked. "No, he isn't full member, he just did that so he could try and get rid of me," Rycu explained. Rycu tried to move but he collapsed back on the bed.

"You seriously need some rest, you could die by doing one wrong move," Eileen said. Rycu checked the map in his head and all members were wiped off the map and it showed Zeref was in some sort of castle on the other side of Fiore.

Rycu went back to sleep and he stayed in the medical room, along with Laxus for the next couple of days. Eventually, Rycu felt like his old self again and he set off for his long journey across Fiore.

Rycu set off one night when everyone was asleep, he managed to sneak out without waking anyone, when he was outside he managed to teleport a bit of the journey but he could only use it once in a while because he was still regaining his magic.

After a long few days of walking, Rycu finally reached the castle which Zeref was in, Eileen and Natsu wasn't far behind him since they set off only a bit after than him and they weren't slowed down because of injuries.

Rycu stepped inside of the castle and he was in a giant room and the doors slammed shut behind him. As Rycu walked through the room there was many cages on the side and they all had monsters staring directly at Rycu and their eyes followed him.

At the other side of the room Zeref had appeared, "I must say Rycu, I'm impressed you took out my whole army of Elite ten, I'm surprised you even lived after the fight against Laxus since you were practically dead."

"Isn't that a bit cliché? I'm surprised you have lived this long is overused," Rycu said. "That doesn't matter, I can't deal with you myself right now but have a bit of fun with my monsters why don't you." Zeref said.

Zeref disappeared and all the bars of the monster cages disappeared and they all launched at him, "This is cliché as well you know," Rycu said. He spiralled around and launched out a circle of fire.

Rycu constantly delivered devastating attacks that killed the monsters effortlessly, he held both of his hands flat out at all the monsters and a tornado of fire appeared which sucked up all the monsters and burnt them to crisp.

Rycu simply just moved onto the next room where Zeref was sat in a giant black throne, resting his head on his fist which was pointing up from the arm rest. Rycu stepped forward and prepared himself for what he knew would be a crazy fight.

"Before we fight, I should really show you something," Zeref said. He clicked his finger and it made Erza appear and there were two tentacles from the ceiling and from the floor that stretched her body out.

Rycu looked in horror as he saw whip lashes, cuts, everything that Zeref could have done to hurt her and to make Rycu angry, he did. There was one last thing in Zeref's mind that he thought he could do to anger Rycu.

Rycu wasn't in his poison dragon form so he couldn't hear what devilish thing Zeref was thinking about. Zeref smiled to himself as his hand glowed black, "What's so funny about this?" Rycu asked.

Erza had woken up and looked over to see Rycu and she suddenly seemed so happy, "Rycu!" she cheered. As Rycu ran towards Erza, Zeref clicked his two fingers together and a tentacle sprouted out of the ground and headed towards Erza or Rycu.

As Rycu ran towards Erza he heard the sound he never would want to hear, he heard the sound of Erza's scream. Rycu stopped and looked in shock as a giant tentacle stabbed straight through Erza's chest.

"Erza!" Rycu screamed. All the other tentacles let go of Erza's body and it fell to the floor, it landed in front of Zeref and he kicked her across the floor to Rycu who turned her body and shook it.

"Erza! Please stay with me! I can't have you leave me like this I need you more than ever, please don't die on me right now, I don't want you to leave me so early in our life, please Erza!" Rycu cried.

Rycu's tears flooded out non-stop and dripped onto Erza's body, Erza just smiled at Rycu as her eyes slowly closed, "No Erza! I can't have you die! We all need you, you're like a sister to everyone else in the guild and you are my sis!" Rycu cried more.

"Rycu," Erza whispered as she wiped his tears away. "What is it?" Rycu sobbed. Zeref was just watching and was enjoying Rycu's suffering, seeing his loved one die in his very own hands.

Erza finished her sentence in her last breath, "I love you, brother…"


	66. Erza's new magic

Rycu held onto Erza's body and it went completely cold, her heart stopped beating, her brain stopped working, she was no longer moving and she had made her last breath and she died in Rycu's hands.

Zeref let out a demonic laugh while Rycu was motionless and he stared down at Erza's body and his body was shaking. "It seems to me that your sister has died, that's what she honestly deserves!" Zeref shouted.

Rycu started to get angry more and more and he let out a giant roar of anger but instead of changing into his demonic form he grabbed both of Erza's arms tightly and her body and Rycu's arms glowed golden.

Zeref looked in shock as Erza's body temperature, magical energy, all of it had been returned, "H-h-he revived her?" Zeref said in shock. Erza took a giant breath and her eyes reopened.

As Erza was revived, Rycu fell to the floor, completely unconscious. She felt her body, it felt like normal, she looked at Rycu who was passed out and shook him, "Rycu?" Erza said worriedly.

Erza stood up and looked at her hands, they were glowing bright, "what's this new magic I'm feeling?" Erza thought. Erza changed to her fire empress armour and the flame on it was much brighter and larger than before.

She also could feel new magic and when she changed she was in a bright, white dress and she has a long, white sword. When she changed again she was in a black dress with a long black sword that had a black aura around it.

"I can use elemental magic? What happened to me that gave me this power?" Erza asked. "Rycu, h-he revived you but that's not possible, no one has done such a thing before!" Zeref said.

Erza looked at Rycu's body and then looked back at her own, "How? How did he revive me? I should be dead right now, I was attacked straight through my heart!" Erza looked at her wound and it had disappeared.

Erza rushed back over to Rycu's body and shook it but there was no response from him, Erza slowly stood back up and turned her head around so it was facing Zeref who was completely petrified.

Zeref stopped and pulled a smile, "With that power, I could revive Acnologia! Had over his body Erza and then I'll let you leave this place unharmed and you can then cry in the arms of your friends."

"You've already hurt me enough so it doesn't really matter to me if you hurt me more, I'm not handing Rycu over to you. You've put him through enough already so I won't let you hurt him anymore," Erza said.

"Well, at least I have a fight in my hands, shame it's against a pitiful weak girl like you and not a person as strong as Rycu, have you seen what Rycu can do, he even beat Laxus! You're just a damsel in distress!" Zeref exclaimed.

"You told me…you told me what sick and twisted games you were putting Rycu through, I saw all his fights and I wish I could have helped him but as you said, I'm just a damsel in distress, but not anymore! I'll protect Rycu at all costs!" Erza shouted.

"I saw all his broken bones, the times he nearly died, thy days he spent unconscious because of the battles he had torn himself through. Yet he still pulled through them even if he was on the verge of death like he was against Laxus so I owe this to him." Erza said.

"This is the end of this nightmare you made for Rycu!" Erza shout as she sprung forward and changed into her light armour and sliced her sword at Zeref, the blade cut a piece of Zeref's clothing and missed his body.

Erza backed off and the tip of her blade pointed directly at Zeref, it launched out a radiant white beam that smashed into Zeref's chest and it blasted him back and smashed him into the wall.

Zeref charged at Erza at full speed, Erza sliced her sword at Zeref but Zeref swiftly moved out the way and appeared behind Erza. He grabbed Erza's long hair into one of his hands and held it in a fist.

Zeref pulled on her hair and smashed her into the wall with it and just let go, Erza pulled herself and charged at Zeref. Zeref shot out large black cylinders at Erza and she dodged out the way of some of them.

When she reached the last one she sliced at it and it bounced back into Zeref which went straight through his body. "Your do realise that darkness doesn't work on me, after all, I am the king of darkness aren't I?" Zeref explained.

Erza sliced at Zeref and she managed to cut his arm, the light glowed on his hand and all of a sudden Zeref grabbed his arm in agony, "You are the king of darkness and that means that your just as hurt when hit with light!" Erza shouted.

Erza ran over and sliced her word at Zeref again which cut him again, she whacked Zeref in the face again with the bottom of her sword, "Is this all you have to offer for a fight Zeref?" Erza asked.

"No, this is just the start!" Zeref shouted. Zeref had a black flame in his hand that left a long trail behind it. He charged up to Erza and punched her with the fire, it circulated her body an extremely damaged her.

Erza fell to the floor on her knee, Zeref walked over and aimed her head upwards so it was looking directly at him, he punched Erza in the face so it blasted Erza back into the wall and it left a mark on her face.

Erza stood up again and her sword glowed completely white again, "Well aren't you a fighter?" Zeref said. "This makes me wonder greatly, how would you fair if you were in the same situation as Rycu, like it was in the tower of light and dark?" Erza looked confused but then realised what he meant.

Erza looked over to Rycu's body and one yellow, beastly eye opened.


	67. The end of the nightmare

Rycu's body stood up while his eye was completely black and his body bent over, his skin turned black, he started to move on four legs, a giant tail sprouted from his back and his fingers turned into claws.

Erza was shocked and didn't know what to do, "Rycu?" Erza whispered as his eyes became a golden colour. Zeref smiled as he knew Erza couldn't win now, "He can't hear you now that he's been turned into a beast."

"Change his back!" Erza shouted as she charged towards Zeref with her sword out but as she was about to attack Zeref disappeared from in front of her and Rycu smashed her into the wall with his head.

"You won't get out of this fight alive, Erza," Zeref said as he stood next to Rycu. "Erza didn't want to hurt Rycu but they both knew that was her only choice if she wanted everyone to leave in one piece.

She punched Rycu in the head but it didn't make him move an inch, Rycu backed off from Erza so her body was free, he then made a full rotation and he hit Erza back across the room with his tail.

As Erza's body blasted across the room, Rycu jumped up at her with his mouth wide open, Erza managed to get a hold of herself and she sliced at Rycu's chest which blasted him far back.

Erza noticed that Rycu's chest now started to glow but not very bright, "Maybe changing him back has something to do with his chest, maybe I should use my light weapons there," Erza thought.

Erza changed her sword so it was shining white along with her armour. She charged at Rycu with her sword facing directly forwards and she was aiming at Rycu's chest. Rycu charged towards her at full speed as well.

Erza dodged behind Rycu and sliced at his back but it didn't hurt him and he whacked her out of the air with his tail, "Do you see now? Any attacks you throw towards Rycu are completely useless," Zeref said.

"I know, that makes me feel less bad when I hurt him because he's strong enough to withstand this all," Erza said. She changed into a new armour and the sword that she had was sparking with lightning.

She pointed her sword forward at Rycu and it launched out a giant electric shock which blasted him back and caused a wave electricity to circulate around his body which made him weaker and fall to the floor.

Erza then switched to her light armour and charged directly at Rycu. She pierced her sword into his chest but that wasn't enough to get rid of the darkness which had spread throughout Rycu's body.

Rycu let out a tremendous roar which made even the ground shake, he lifted him head and smashed it down on Erza which smashed her into the floor so Rycu put his claws over her body and was crushing her.

"Rycu please!" Erza wheezed. "Fight against it, free yourself from this, you have to give it your all!" Rycu pulled his claws off Erza and stared at her, he suddenly seemed more calm and gentle like a dog.

Erza stood up and stroked Rycu like a got and they put their heads together but it wouldn't last for long. Zeref smiled as he predicted what would happen next and how it would possibly end for Erza.

Rycu's eyes suddenly shined again and he bit onto Erza's arm and smashed her into countless stone walls and pillars. Rycu eventually let go of Erza and it sent her flying through the floor.

She stabbed her sword into the ground and managed to pull herself up, Rycu immediately charged back into her and held her against the wall. Erza kicked Rycu in the face which pushed him back only a bit but it was enough so she could escape.

She ran around Rycu and sliced at his leg which made him drop to the floor, she ran back round to his chest and pierced his light sword back into Rycu's chest which was starting to glow brighter.

"One more hit and this should be over in no time," Erza thought. She pulled her sword out and prepared to make the finishing blow but before she did it Rycu wrapped Erza's body with his tail and squeezed her tight.

Rycu stood back up on his hands and feet and stared at Erza, he kept squeezing her tighter and tighter by each second, "I think it's now clear, Rycu has won and I think we should give you a real execution," Zeref said.

"I might keep Rycu like this, he's much more deadly in this form and I won't have to deal with him complaining or shouting about how he'll escape and beat the ever loving snot out of me," Zeref said.

"Not on my watch!" Erza shouted as she glowed bright and Rycu's tail unwrapped from her, "Interesting, she made a flash of light to make Rycu get off of her," Zeref thought as he saw Erza jump into the air.

Rycu jumped into the air as well and they were heading straight for each other. Erza held her sword out forward, aiming for Rycu's heart one last time before Rycu would be done for and changed back to normal.

They back crashed into each other in the air and Erza's sword slid straight into Rycu's heart, they both crashed down back to the floor and Erza pulled her sword out of Rycu and used it to pull herself back up.

Rycu's body changed back to normal, as Erza stood up, Zeref punched her in the back of the head which made her crash down on the floor. Zeref picked up Erza's sword and held it to her neck.

"How foolish of you, you should have just handed Rycu over to me, I have him now anyway because of your foolishness you'll die by your own weapon which makes this feel a lot better," Zeref said.

Zeref lifted up the sword and smashed it down on Erza, instead of hearing her blood shed, Zeref heard the shattering of the sword. When Zeref looked back up he saw the sword shattered in someone's hand.

When he looked again, he saw it was Rycu, "Wait-" Zeref said before he was blasted through the walls of the castle which led to outside where there were hills and that's where Zeref landed.

Rycu walked up to Zeref's body on the hill and picked it up, "You've made Erza suffer, and that's something that can't be forgiven by someone like me!" Rycu shouted as he smashed Zeref's body into the floor and picked it up again.

"I don't ever want to see your face again! I hope you got what you wanted out of me because you're never going to live again after the next time we fight. See you in hell!" Rycu shouted as he blasted Zeref as far away as Rycu could.

"I know this isn't our last encounter but next time you're going to be getting it worse," Rycu thought as he made his way back to the castle where he lifted up Erza's unconscious body and made his way out of the castle.

"See you around, Rycu."


	68. S Class

When Rycu walked back out into the light it almost felt like he was going to be blinded by the sun. He could see far in the distance Natsu and Eileen who were running towards him as fast as they could.

Even though he felt relatively fine Rycu's body had giant cuts, broken bones and bruises. Natsu rushed over and dived directly into Rycu which made him fall over, "You found Erza and you're alive!" Natsu shouted.

"Will you ever wait up for us?" Eileen asked as she helped Rycu up and he put his arm around her because his legs hurt from when Erza sliced at them with her sword. Natsu picked up Erza's body and put it around his shoulder.

"Sorry," Rycu said as he felt his eye that got cut back when he fought Acnologia. "How'd it go down with Zeref then?" Natsu asked as they started to walk along the path back to the guild.

"And what happened to that stick?" Eileen asked. "Zeref ran away after his plan didn't go his way so he's still out there, still a pain in my backside. As for the stick, Zeref never had during battle so I don't know what he'll do with it now," Rycu said.

They travelled for some hours and they eventually made it back to the guild, "My word Rycu what happened to you and Erza?" Makarov asked. "All I can say is, is that it's a very long story that I'll tell you after," Rycu said.

Wendy got to work on Rycu and Erza straight away and within a short amount of time she was already done with them, Rycu looked and felt perfectly fine and Erza was just fast asleep so Lucy took her to her house.

Eileen left without them knowing so they didn't know where she went or what she was doing. Natsu and Rycu just stayed by the guild and relaxed with everyone else like Gray and Wendy.

"Sounds like it was rough," Gray said. "Yeah, I'd be scared out of my mind," Wendy said. Wendy, Gray, Natsu and Rycu were all on a table just talking about the events that just happened.

"Rycu, Natsu and Gajeel, I need to talk to you all," Makarov shouted. Rycu, Gajeel and Natsu all stood up and walked over to Makarov who was sat with his legs crossed on top of a table.

"What is it gramps?" Natsu asked. "I know all three of you are probably exhausted from all the work you have been doing but I thought I'd let you know this in advance," Makarov said. "Continue," Gajeel said.

"There is a problem concerning some dark wizards that were once working with Grimoire Heart, we don't know exactly what they're doing but if they continue the whole world is at risk," Makarov said.

"So we have to stop them?" Rycu said. "Yes, once again we are teaming up with guilds, we are with Sabretooth, Lamia scale and Feather stone." "I've never heard of Feather stone before," Natsu said.

"They are a new guild but they have extremely powerful wizards. The problem for this is that only S class wizards such as Erza, Laxus, Gildarts and Mira." Makarov explained. "None of us are S class though so what happens?" Gajeel asked.

"The S class trials are coming up next month so all of you will be participating, Natsu and Rycu will be on a team and Gajeel and Gray will be on a team. If both teams make it till the end all four of you will become S class and go on that mission since Gray isn't S class either." Makarov explained.

"You all will have the month to train, all teams will be announced tomorrow now all of you go and I'll let all S class wizards and Gray know about this." Makarov said. Makarov made a hand gesture and all of them went out the guild hall.

"We should start training asap, knowing Makarov he isn't going to make these S class trials easy for us, they'll probably be the hardest they have ever been and it's gotten really bad back then," Natsu said.

"Let's just hope this doesn't end in disaster just like what happened last time at Tenrou island," Gajeel said. "Oh yeah, I heard about what happened with Grimoire heart, doubt it was an easy fight for you," Rycu explained.

"All of us were badly injured and after we won it had a bitter end when Acnologia showed up and almost killed all of us. I'm glad you've never had to go face to face with some powerful wizards like them," Natsu said.

"Trust me, I'm quite familiar with them because I have a past with them that ended quite badly," Rycu said. "Wait, you've been around Grimoire heart before?" Natsu asked. "Look, that's a story for another time," Rycu said.

The three of them moved to the forest where they fought each other for the rest of the day and Rycu destroyed both Natsu and Gajeel in combat. The next day everyone was in the guild hall, including Erza who had finally woken up.

Everyone stood in front of the giant stage, waiting for Makarov to appear. All of the S class wizards, Erza, Laxus, Mira and Gildarts, stood on the stage waiting as well for Makarov to walk on.

After a long wait Makarov finally appeared and he began, "Hello everyone, today I will finally be announcing the next participants for the S class trials." Before Makarov could say his next sentence everyone let out a giant cheer.

"This year it is different, there will be five teams of two, if one team wins then both wizards in the team will become S class. Also there will be two teams that can win so four wizards can become S class." Makarov explained.

"The teams are, Rycu and Natsu," everyone let out an ear-crumbling cheer, "Gajeel and Gray," another great cheer, "Wendy and Juvia," there was a very quiet cheer, "Elfmen and Evergreen," people just seemed confused, "and lastly Freed and Bickslow," everyone screamed at the top of their lungs.

"You all have one month to prepare, now go!"


	69. The beginning of the trials

Over the next month everyone trained intensely hard, especially Natsu and Rycu, they would fight in the forest all day and never stopped for a break, not even for food and water if they desperately needed it.

Erza would be with them, helping to train them and watching Natsu and Rycu fight, over time she could see they both got significantly more powerful than before, she even had to stop them sometimes because they were overdoing it.

On one night all three of them, Erza, Rycu and Natsu laid on a hill after having a long intense battle. "In a weeks' time, we'll be sailing back over to Tenrou islands for those stupid, painful trials," Natsu said.

Erza smiled as she knew what they would face there, "Can't you leak us a bit of information Erza?" Natsu asked desperately as he jumped up from his back. "Sorry, all will be revealed at the trials," Erza said.

Rycu stood up and dragged Natsu by his neck, "Let's get back to training," Rycu said. "C'mon Rycu it's midnight!" Natsu complained. Erza giggled, "I think you can go for another round Natsu, everyone else is."

Erza pointed over to the other side of town where there was lots of noise coming from the other members who were training as well. "No!" Natsu let out a giant cry, "I don't want to fight!"

"Stop being a child," Rycu complained as he punched Natsu in the face. "Alright you asked for this!" Natsu shouted as he charged at Rycu and they started another round of fighting and Erza just watched as they had an even fight.

Gajeel and Gray could see roars of fire from the other side of town, "Looks like they're going for another round, so should we, we need the upper hand otherwise we'll get destroyed during the trials," Gray said.

Everyone else went for another match and once they finished they all went to bed, except Natsu and Rycu who kept on training over that night. Erza kept on watching but fell asleep halfway through the night.

When it was the morning Erza woke up and saw Rycu and Natsu fighting, when she looked over she also saw they had destroyed hundreds of trees, they both noticed Erza was awake, "Hey Erza!" Natsu said as Rycu knocked him out cold with a punch.

"I'm finished," Rycu said as he fell on the floor fast asleep. "They don't know when to stop do they?" Erza thought. She dragged both of them inside their house and she stayed with them because she had nothing to do.

When Natsu and Rycu woke up again they had breakfast and got back to training with Erza. That was their routine for the next week until it was finally the day of the trials so all teams met up by the docks next to the sea.

All the S class wizards, teams and Makarov got on a giant boat and set sail for Tenrou island. As they approached the island the boat stopped in its position and Makarov stood high up to talk to them.

"This is as far as all of you will be taken by boat, this is where the trials begin, you need to find a large cave with some markings that should read out 'cave of the dead'. The last team that makes it there will automatically be out of the running." Makarov explained.

"So no matter what someone's gonna be out, that's not going to be us though," Gajeel said. There was a very long silence for the next minute but it was suddenly broken when Makarov raised his hand and rushed for the water.

Natsu tried to dive off the boat but he smashed head first into a magical barrier. "Agh, Freed and his stupid magical barriers!" Gray shouted. Freed and Bickslow looked back and laughed as Freed used his magical wings to fly them to the island.

The S class wizards and Makarov had already left and where heading straight towards the stone. "Every time this gets me!" Natsu shouted frustratingly and smashed his fist into the wooden wall.

"Natsu have you already forgot?" Rycu asked. "Forgot what?" Natsu asked. Rycu grabbed Natsu's arm and teleported them over to the island. Natsu suddenly felt so dumb as they were teleported to the island, "Oh yeah, you have teleportation."

Back on the boat the magical barrier finally disappeared and the other three teams swam as fast as they could through the water. Gajeel suddenly had a great idea and he turned round to Gray.

"You may get dizzy but deal with it," Gajeel said as he grabbed Gray's arm and Gajeel made himself spin like a tornado and it launched Gajeel to the island. When they were on the island Gray's body was spinning like mad so Gajeel had to stop him.

Wendy used her sky dragon slayer magic to boost her across the sea while Juvia, her partner, used her water magic to swim lightning fast across the whole sea faster than everyone else.

Elfmen used his large, strong muscles to boost him through the water quickly with Evergreen on his back. Before they all knew it everyone had already reched the island, faster than what Makarov expected.

Everyone started to look around for this large stone with its markings, "Hey, Rycu," Natsu called. "What?" Rycu asked. "If we have to fight Gildarts, do you think we'll win, I mean you beat him a while back." Natsu said.

"Back then, Gildarts probably wasn't used to fighting after a long break like that, in the time we're in now, I probably wouldn't stand a chance against someone like him or I would barely be able to beat him," Rycu explained.

They left the conversation at that and continued to search for the cave. At the cave everyone was looking for, the S class wizards and Makarov waited just outside of its entrance.

"How long would you say it will take them to find this cave?" Erza asked. "Knowing the dragon slayer's good senses it won't take team Natsu and team Gray long, I would say it would take an hour maximum," Makarov explained.

"It fun to think what they have coming."


	70. The Cave of the dead (Update)

(Quick update, from now on chapters will be 2000 words long, it was previously 1000, sorry I haven't posted as much as I could, writing 2000 words takes a very long time and I have been writing Rycu's backstory which has taken me a long time and I'm not even finished with it. Enjoy this chapter!)

"Right!" Natsu said as he stood up on a rock, "We need to find this stone or whatever it is, maybe I can see from here!" "Natsu, that rock only boosted you in about thirty centimetres of height," Rycu said.

"I'm sorry, I wish I was tall!" Natsu complained as he jumped off the rock and sulked off, "He really is like a child isn't he?" Rycu said. Rycu followed behind him and they continued to search for the cave.

"Right ice boy, I can smell their sent that way," Gajeel said as he pointed north. "But I saw them head off in that direction, all of them did!" Gray said as he pointed the opposite way as Gajeel which was south.

"They went west, they could be tricking us!" Gajeel said as he was pointing north still, "That's north you iron head idiot!" Gray shouted. "Say that to my face!" Gajeel shouted. "I just did!" Gray shouted back and they both started to fight.

"Hey, Juvia, do you think the cave is that way?" Wendy asked. "All I wanted was to do these trials with Gray!" Juvia cried. "Why? Is there something wrong with being with me?" Wendy asked.

"I love Gray to bits and instead I was given you!" Juvia complained. "I'm sure if we win these trials Gray will be so happy with you and he'll be with you!" Wendy said. "You really think so?" Juvia asked. Wendy nodded her head, "Then we better get going!" Juvia shouted as she lifted up Wendy and sprinted in one direction.

"So um…where do we look first?" Elfmen asked. "Shush!" Evergreen shouted at Elfmen, "The stone will come to us," Evergreen said as she sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.

"But that doesn't make any sense! It's not even a stone, it's an entire cave!" Elfmen shouted. "Shut up!" Evergreen shouted at Elfmen as she whacked him in the head and smashed his head against a tree, "I'm sorry," Elfmen muttered.

"Freed, you got a sight on the cave yet from up top?" Bickslow shouted out. "Freed looked around but found nothing, "Sorry, all these trees have large leafs so from up here you can't see anything," Freed replied.

Freed flew back down, "You stay in this area, I'll fly around at ground level and if I see anything I'll come back as soon as I can," Freed said. "I'll send some of my babies by that I mean my mini totems," Bickslow said as a few of them launched off.

"Just stop calling them that, quite frankly it's creep and disturbing to hear you say that to wood," Freed said. "They aren't just wood, I treat them like my children so take that back!" Bickslow shouted. "No!" Freed shouted and they got in an argument as well.

"Ugh, I can hear all of them shouting at each other from here," Laxus complained. "They're a bunch of idiots so just cut them some slack will you?" Gildarts said and chuckled at his own lame joke.

Erza just shook her head, "Just be quiet Gildarts and you can smash Rycu and Natsu to pieces when they get here," "Who says Gildarts could beat Natsu and Rycu, his probably too weak, me and Rycu were evenly matched, we both passed out so it was a draw," Laxus said.

"When did you fight Rycu?" Makarov asked. "Umm, never mind that," Laxus said as he faced away from Makarov. "It's been about twenty minutes, how much longer till they get here?" Mira asked. "About another twenty minutes maximum," Makarov said.

"Hey! Rycu, look at this cave, it has markings on it, I think we found it!" Natsu shouted. Rycu walked up to the cave and examined it, "No this says, 'Cave of happiness'" Rycu said. He paused for a second and re-read it.

The both walked inside the cave and immediately walked out, "I think I'm scared for life, that room was, weird as hell," Natsu said. "Maybe…maybe…maybe we should just, move on," Rycu said.

Natsu and Rycu continued to walk along and they crossed paths with Freed and Bickslow, "Right then, I guess you want a fight?" Natsu asked. "Wow you took the words right out of my mouth," Bickslow said.

Bickslow summoned back his small totems and they grouped up in a circular formation, the mouths of the totems lit up and they all launched out a laser beam, they all crossed paths and it made it into a giant laser beam.

It blasted Natsu back but Rycu just took the hit and it didn't even make him flinch, "You'll need something more powerful than that," Rycu said as he teleported behind Bickslow and destroyed all his totems in one hit.

"My babies!" Bickslow shouted as Rycu punched him in the face, suddenly a magical barrier appeared around Rycu, it was like four large walls made of weird symbols, "Wow you ran into my magical barrier trap, now you're stuck," Freed said.

Rycu smiled, "I guess you don't know," "Don't know what?" Freed asked. Rycu teleported behind Freed and leaned his head so he whispered into his ear, "I can teleport you know," Rycu whispered.

Rycu kicked Freed's leg and it made him fall back, Rycu then lifted his fist and smashed it into Freed's face. Bickslow stood back up and pulled up his mask, "I think it's time for my secret weapon," Bickslow said.

"Rycu, look away, it'll blind you for a while if you look into his eye!" By the time Natsu said it, it was too late, Bickslow lifted up his mask and a purple kind of vortex came from his eyes.

Rycu looked directly into it, Bickslow kept using it but then Natsu charged into him and Bickslow looked at Natsu which blinded him. "I think this match is over," Freed said. Bickslow lifted his mask back up.

Rycu seemed perfectly fine though, "What? He looked straight at me and he's perfectly fine?" Bickslow questioned. The S class wizards could hear their conversation and they were laughing, because they were close, "That's the first time that attack hasn't worked on someone," Laxus said.

Rycu suddenly started to move again, "Do you want to know my trick?" Rycu asked. Freed and Bickslow nodded their heads, "I can blind myself basically, it's like I can turn off my vision, so you can't blind what's already gone can you?" Rycu asked.

Freed and Bickslow heard the laughs of the S class wizards, "Did you hear that?" Bickslow asked. Freed nodded and they both ran in the direction from where they heard the S class wizards laughing.

Rycu teleported in front of them and was tutting, "Sorry, no getting away from this," Rycu said and all the S class wizards were laughing hysterically, listening to Freed and Bickslow get beaten up by Rycu on his own.

Once Rycu was finished with them he put Natsu round his shoulder, since he couldn't see, and carried Natsu over to the cave the wizards were, "Rycu! You're first here!" Gildarts said cheerfully.

Rycu sat Natsu down next to Erza and Erza put her arm around Natsu so he knew where she was. "You ok Natsu?" Erza asked. "Well, I'm blind for a while so not the greatest," Natsu said.

"Nice trick you had there Rycu, never seen anyone that could withstand Bickslow's blinding attack, actually, speaking of them," Laxus said as Freed and Bickslow came crawling out of the bushes.

"Wow, you two got smashed by Rycu," Laxus said sarcastically. "I'm so sorry, I have failed you Laxus," Freed cried. "Oh shut up, you got your ass handed to you by Rycu once before," Bickslow said.

Everyone stared at Laxus, "Like any of you could beat Rycu on your own!" Laxus complained. "How could you say such a thing to Laxus!" Freed shouted at Bickslow as he hit him over the head.

"I guess we now have two teams that will certainly be through to round two, now we will wait for the next two groups, if they're fast enough we could start the next round by midday," Makarov said.

Where Gajeel and Gray were, they finally decided to make their way south, which was the right direction, "I can hear some voices so we must be getting closer, I told you we should go south," Gray said.

"Aww just stop rubbing it in my face will you already," Gajeel complained. As they kept walking along they heard another group arguing, you could hear them from a whole mile away.

"Aww look who we ran into," Elfmen said. "Let's just cut to the chase, we're going to fight you and make sure that you won't make it to that cave before us, simple enough for that thick skull of yours?" Gray asked.

"Alright you asked for this!" Elfmen shouted. Elfmen used his takeover magic straight away, he changed into some sort of alligator armour which was extremely high when it came to his defence.

Gajeel charged up to Elfmen and punched him straight in the chest but Elfmen barely noticed that he had been attacked. "Sorry, do you want something?" Elfmen asked as he punched Gajeel but it didn't make him move.

"I do have my own armour," Gajeel said as his skin turned into iron. He punched at Elfmen again and that time he did feel the attack and it launched him back. Evergreen shot out infinite amounts of magical crystals at Gray and he charged at them head on.

Gray dodged through all the crystals, they weren't even coming close to hitting him, Evergreen took off her glasses, Gray knew if you looked her directly in the eye you would turn to stone.

Gray memorised the pattern he had to dodge, he closed his way and still dodged them all, he jumped past Evergreen, reopened his eyes and punched her in the back. It launched Evergreen across the floor and made her crash into the tree.

Elfmen changed to his leopard takeover which made him extremely fast, he sprinted at Gajeel faster than the blink of the eye and launched him across the floor. Gajeel pulled himself up as Elfmen charged at him again.

It was if time slowed down for Gajeel, he could recognise what attacks he would pull next, Gajeel dodged out the way of the first one, blocked the second and found an opportunity to attack Elfmen on the third.

Gajeel used his tornado attack and crashed straight into Elfmen's chest with it which blasted him across and made him crash through many trees. Evergreen changed her attacks so the crystals she launched out were much larger.

Evergreen had four giant crystals around her which all aimed at Rycu, they shot out a giant laser beam from each one which hit Gray and caused a giant explosion which blasted him back.

The beams still kept attacking, Gray made an ice shield and pushed against the beams, the closer he made it to Evergreen, the more his ice shield cracked. Once his ice shield broke, Gray jumped though a gap from where the laser beams were blasting and punched Evergreen in the face and then sliced her with his ice blades.

"We're done now, I can hear everyone from over there," Gray said as he pointed over to a giant cave. They both rushed over and were greeted by everyone there, Elfmen and Evergreen followed up behind them.

"I guess we know who's eliminated now," Erza said. A while later Juvia and Wendy finally made it, "Sorry you two were here dead last, you're out of the competition for becoming S class," Gray said.

"No, I have failed you Gray my beloved!" Juvia cried as she fell to the floor. Makarov finally stood up and spoke, "Now that all of you have made it here let us begin, Juvia and Wendy were eliminated in round one, for round two you will be put up against an S class wizard of my choosing. You do not have to win the fight but the S class wizard will decide if you performed well enough to pass. The team that loses their fight or performs most poorly, will be eliminated.

All the S class wizards disappeared into the cave, "The first fighters for round two will be Elfmen and Evergreen, go find out who your opponent is."


	71. I won't fail

"Why do we have to go first?" Evergreen complained. "Because you two have the least chance of winning," Makarov said. Evergreen and Elfmen looked at each other in shock, "Umm, we're definitely going to win and become S class!" Elfmen shouted.

Elfmen stormed into the cave and dragged Evergreen behind him, when they entered the cave they looked around, their opponent stood in the centre and it was Mira, the other wizards were stood at the sides.

"Oh no we have to fight you again but we fought you last time!" Elfmen complained. "But we won didn't we?" Evergreen said. "That was only because you used that stupid tactic to put me off-guard but it won't work again," Mira said.

"Bring it on sis!" Elfmen shouted at he used his takeover magic to turn into his crocodile armour and Mira used her Satins soul takeover, he charged at Mira at full speed and pulled back his fist to deliver what would be a devastating attack.

He delivered the punch but before he even used the attack, Mira had moved behind him and she kicked him in the back of the neck. Evergreen grouped up all of her crystals and they shot out a giant laser beam.

All of them hit Mira but she just walked through the laser until she was close enough to Evergreen so she smashed all the crystals to pieces. Elfmen changed into his leopard takeover.

He rushed towards Mira and she could sense he was coming from behind so she turned around and punched him straight in the face which made him crash into the floor and slide across until he hit the wall and made some rocks fell on his body.

Evergreen made hundreds of her giant crystals group up together and they all launched out a giant laser like last time, "Good luck avoiding it this time!" Evergreen shouted as they shot out the laser.

When the laser beam stopped, Mira wasn't there, "Did I get her?" Evergreen asked. "Not even close!" Mira shouted as she appeared behind Evergreen and hit her forward which made her trip.

The crystals changed into a ball shape and had spikes around them, they all launched at Mira and she punched them with her bare hands, when she looked at her hands they had spikes in them.

Mira then started to smash them with her tail, she gets a large snake tail when she uses her Satin soul form, it didn't hurt her because the tail that she had was resistant to being cut by sharp objects.

She rushed up to Evergreen and hit her in the back of the head with her tail, Elfmen had managed to get himself up and he rushed over to Mira then grabbed her tail, he tugged on it and Mira looked back.

As she looked back Elfmen punched her in the face which launched her back but because Elfmen had a hold of her tail it pushed her back a bit then it made her fall on her back to the floor.

Elfmen spun her around and launched her all the way across the cave and made her smash her head into the wall but she stood up like she had just tripped over a small object like a child's toy car.

Mira cracked her knuckles, "Is that all you have?" Mira asked. Elfmen and Evergreen both looked nervous and started to shake with fear. Mira rushed up to them both and punched them both in the stomach.

Mira's tail suddenly glowed red and it was flaming a bit, Mira spun around in multiple circles so Elfmen and Evergreen were both hit by Mira's tail multiple times and it blasted them across the cave at light speed and they crashed into the wall.

"I don't think they passed, do you?" Mira asked as she looked over at the S class wizards and they all agreed with her. She picked up Evergreen and Elfmen's body and kicked them both out of the cave, in front of everyone outside.

"So I'm guessing you two lost!" Bickslow laughed. "Yes, I'm afraid both of you are out but that doesn't mean you're all safe, if you lose your fight or didn't perform well enough then you will be eliminated as well," Makarov said and Bickslow stopped laughing.

"Gray and Gajeel, you are the next two up, go see who your opponent is," Makarov said. "I wish I could see!" Natsu complained. "Let me help you then," Bickslow said as he lifted the spell from Natsu.

Gray and Gajeel went down to the cave and the person who stood in the centre was no other than Erza, "Erza?" Gajeel questioned. "This is too easy for us can't we fight Gildarts?" Gray asked.

"No need to get cocky, I'll just say, an event happened recently and now I have a great power boost," Erza said. Gajeel and Gray looked at each other and had no clue whatsoever about what she meant.

"I should use my elemental swords because Gajeel's an iron dragon slayer so he can just eat my sword and he would get powered up," Erza thought as she changed into her light element armour.

"What since whe-" Gajeel and Gray were saying before Erza sliced past both of them and launched them both back but they were still on their feet and they launched back at Erza again.

"Let's see what else that can do!" Gajeel shouted as he wound up his fist for an attack, Erza changed her sword so it was made completely of steel and when Gajeel punched it, it stopped him in this tracks.

Erza spun her sword around and hit Gajeel in the head with the end of the sword and sliced at Gray's chest with the sharp end of the sword. It left a bruise on Gajeel's head and a cut on Gray's chest.

"That sting's!" Gray said. "That's because I changed it with my poison sword," Erza said. Gray was scratching his chest like mad, "This is really itchy you know!" Gray complained and charged back to Erza.

Gray made his ice blades appear on his arms and as he sliced at Erza she raised her sword and hit at his ice sword and it made Gray's shatter instantly. Erza changed to her 'giants' armour, which was extremely powerful, and she punched him through the cave, crashing into Gajeel.

"Mind where you're going!" Gajeel shouted as he threw Gray off of him, "Sorry it's not my fault Erza launched me across here!" Gray shouted. "Yeah it is, it's your fault you're getting beat by a girl!" Gajeel shouted. "So are you!" Gray shouted back.

Erza switched to her fire empress armour and dragged he flaming sword along so it created the words 'shut up!' in flame and they hovered there. Erza made noise so Gajeel and Gray looked over.

They read the words and Gajeel shouted, "Hey!" Erza swiped her sword around so it made a sphere of fire and she launched it at them and it blasted them back but they stood back up again.

"Right, I say we end this," Gajeel said. Gray charged towards Erza and she raised her guard but Gajeel roared at her which made her lower her guard, "Finish it now!" Gajeel shouted as Gray closed in on Erza.

Gray made his ice blades appear and he sliced at Erza's arms so she dropped her sword, then Gray made a giant ice hammer and made it smash down on Erza, finishing her off, "I think you pass," Erza wheezed as she laid on the floor.

"Yay!" Gajeel and Gray shouted as they rushed out the cave. "I see you won your fight Gajeel and Gray," Makarov said. "Hell yeah we did, that was too easy," Gajeel said as he sat down next to Natsu.

"Let's be honest, we could hear Erza handing your asses to both of you most of that fight," Natsu said. Gajeel put Natsu into a head lock while Gray was kicking Natsu from behind him and they kept doing it until it was Natsu's turn to fight.

"Help me Rycu!" Natsu screamed. Rycu just smiled and let it happen, "Next up is Freed and Bickslow, you two can go down and see who your opponent is," Makarov said as Freed and Bickslow went down into the cave.

"Oh hell no, we're screwed!" Bickslow shouted. When they looked in the centre they saw Laxus, sparking with electricity, "Let's get to the point, you're fighting me and don't think about holding back because I'm your friend," Laxus said.

"I could never bring myself to hurt you!" Freed said dramatically. "Too bad because you have to if you want to become S class," Laxus shouted as he shot out a bolt of lightning at Freed and it gave him a great shock.

Bickslow launched out his small totems and they spaced out in a circle around Laxus, just before they shot out a laser beam, Laxus shot out a wave of lightning that destroyed all the totems.

Freed managed to keep himself together after the wave of lightning Laxus sent to him, "I have to give this my all, I can't let Laxus down," Freed thought as he stood up completely straight.

Freed launched out small purple symbols that wrapped around Laxus' arm, "What the hell is this?" Laxus asked. Freed smiled, "I have gotten much stronger you know Laxus, I have some old tricks still," Freed said.

The purple symbols shined bright and it exploded, pushing Laxus back, Freed launched out hundreds more of them at Laxus, Laxus dodged them all and shot out a bolt of lightning at Laxus but he managed to dodge it.

While Laxus wasn't looking, Bickslow took off his mask so Laxus would get blinded if he looked at him, "Look here Laxus!" Bickslow shouted but Laxus knew what he was trying to do so he shut his eyes.

As Bickslow put his mask back on his miniature totems launched out a blast of energy which blasted him forward, Freed created a wall of symbols which Laxus was blasted into and it created a giant explosion which blasted him back again.

"So far this isn't a half bad fight to be honest but I think I might start to get serious, you know only a few people have been able to beat me while I actually try," Laxus said. "Well we're going become one of them!" Freed shouted.

Freed shot out thousands of his purple symbols and there were only tiny gaps to dodge through, Laxus turned into a tiny spark of electricity and dodged through all the words, everyone lost track of him.

When Freed stopped attacking he looked around but couldn't find Laxus, "Where the hell has he gone?" Freed asked. "Behind you," Laxus whispered as he punched Bickslow in the head and finished him off.

Laxus went to punch Freed as well but Freed collided fists with him and kept pushing but neither of them overpowered each other. "I will not lose to you, I promise I will win this and you won't stop me!" Freed shouted.

Laxus just looked shocked and Freed punched him away, "He's stronger and braver than I thought," Laxus thought. "I can see how determined you are to do this to prove to me how strong you are but if you put up a good enough fight then you'll have my respect, you haven't yet so let's keep going!" Laxus shouted.

Freed launched at Laxus again and punched him in the face, "Keep it up Freed!" Laxus shouted. Freed kept punching with lots of power rapidly but Laxus could keep up with him and delivered devastating attacks back.

Laxus moved back and let out a giant electric roar that hit Freed head on, once Laxus finished Freed stood there but his body fell, "I'm sorry, I have failed you Laxus, you had expectations that I could not reach," Freed said.

Laxus walked over to Freed's body and stuck his arm out, "Well done, I think you do deserve to move on to the final round, you have surpassed my expectations, even if you don't win these trials, you have my respect," Laxus said.

Freed reached out and Laxus pulled him up, "Thank you, Laxus," Freed said. "Wait, Freed actually won it for us, great job buddy!" Bickslow said. They both left the cave and faced everyone else.

"Well done Freed and Bickslow, I hear you surpassed Laxus' expectations, anyway, the final team is Rycu and Natsu, go see who your opponent is," Makarov said.

Rycu and Natsu went down into the cave and it was pitch black, tiny orbs of light floated around the room and when they saw who their opponent was they were scared.

"We…are…so…screwed."


	72. Familiar presence

There was not one but two S class wizards that stood before Natsu and Rycu, they were Laxus and Gildarts. "Why have we got to fight the strongest two?!" Natsu complained and flailed his arms in the air.

"Since you two are the strongest wizards we thought we'd give you the toughest out of all of us that you've beaten, like Rycu has beaten Gildarts and Natsu has beaten Laxus," Erza explained.

"Just to let you know now Rycu, I won't go easy on you this time," Gildarts said with a devilish smile. "I knew you wouldn't so that's why I am not going to go easy on you either," Rycu said.

"Yeah, Natsu if you don't try and trash talk then you'll actually stand a chance," Laxus said. Laxus' comment just made Natsu even more angry, "Just shut your trap as well then, the last time we had a proper fight you were just as annoying," Natsu complained.

"You two shut up and let's actually start the fight!" Erza shouted. Everyone just went silent, "Natsu, you get Laxus I'll get Gildarts," Rycu whispered. All of a sudden Mira shouted "Fight already!"

Laxus shot out two bolts of lightning from his hands, one went to Natsu, one went to Rycu. Natsu got hit by his and it blasted him back across the cave and made him smash into the wall at full speed.

The bolt of lightning that hit Rycu circulated through his body and launched back at Gildarts which pushed him back. Rycu and Laxus were diagonal to each other so they both darted their eyes to their right.

They both pounced at each other, they swung a punch at each other and collided fists, Laxus' hand had tiny sparks of lightning from his fist and it gave his fist a sudden boost in power and it hit Rycu straight in the face.

Rycu was hit back but he used his fire at the bottom of his feet to give him a boost back up and he grabbed Laxus' arms. Rycu leaned his head back and swung it forward to head-butt Laxus and make him fall back.

Laxus felt the top right of his head and he felt the blood dripping down his head, "So I see we're going to have to get serious," Laxus said with a grin. "I thought I already told you I'm not going east on you," Rycu said.

Natsu stood up and faced Gildarts, "Guess it's our turn," Natsu said and he jumped towards Gildarts. "You never learn do you?" Gildarts said and he held out his hand and blocked Natsu's fist.

"How many times as he done that?" Erza asked Mira. "Pretty much every time he's fought Gildarts," Mira replied. Gildarts brought back his other hand and punched Natsu directly in the face but he stood back up.

There was fire around Natsu's feet and he leaned forward, a sudden boost of fire shot out of his feet and it blasted him towards Gildarts. Gildarts raised his arm which also raised his cape to protect him a bit from Natsu's fire.

Natsu hit directly against Gildarts' arm and it blasted him about five meters back but he stood firm on his feet so he just left a train of where he was blasted from to where he had ended up.

Gildarts looked unimpressed with Natsu, "What?! You saying that was a weak attack?" Natsu shouted. "No, it's just that I know you can pull off a stronger attack," Gildarts said and stepped a bit away from Natsu.

Both sides charged at each other again but this time Natsu boosted head-first into Laxus while Rycu teleported behind Gildarts and kicked him forward. Gildarts landed perfectly on his feet and turned around to face Rycu.

"Guess we finally get our rematch?" Gildarts said. "Seems so," Rycu said as he changed his hands into his poison claws. "I haven't really gotten a proper rematch yet, last time didn't count!" Natsu exclaimed.

"You're just saying that because I beat you in one weak attack," Laxus moaned and his body sparked with lightning. Rycu teleported behind Laxus then kicked him towards Natsu who was kicked in the face by Laxus.

Rycu swung a punch at Gildarts but he grabbed his fist, white particles appeared around Rycu's hand and a white beam shot out of Gildarts hand and it all hit Rycu's hand, Rycu pulled his hand out and when he looked at it, it was a light red colour.

Rycu held onto his hand tightly and leaned up against the wall, "Already done for?" Gildarts asked as he slowly approached Rycu. "What's wrong?" Erza asked. "That full beam of light hit my full hand and now it hurts like hell," Rycu explained.

Gildarts leaped towards Rycu and punched his head against the wall, he then kicked Rycu in the leg and kicked him across the room. Rycu stood back up and was ready to attack Gildarts but he fell back to the floor when he was shocked by Laxus' lightning.

"You deal with Natsu, I'll finish him off," Gildarts said. Gildarts stood over Rycu's body and stomped on it, "Finished?" Gildarts asked, "I'm still not impressed." Rycu's hands had fire around them and they gave him a boost off the ground so he flew in the air and kicked Gildarts in the face.

Natsu looked up to Laxus from the floor and he was quickly approaching him, Natsu stood up and prepared to face him head-on. Natsu leaned back and punched Laxus put he punched against Natsu and overpowered him.

Laxus kept on hitting Natsu with his electrified fist until he could no longer stand, "Sorry…Rycu," Natsu wheezed and his body flopped on the floor. "Looks like we're down to one," Gildarts said, he and Laxus both faced opposite Rycu.

"Looks like I have only one choice if I want to win this battle," Rycu said as a giant golden circle was behind him, shaped like a phoenix. Laxus and Gildarts looked in confusion, "What the hell is that?" Laxus asked.

Rycu shouted, "Ultimate dragon, phoenix blast!" A giant white beam shot out of Rycu and it hit Gildarts and Laxus head on. It blasted the both back and caused them to tumble all over the floor.

Rycu knew they both wouldn't be finished off that easy so he kept blasting out the attack and it barely took away any of his magic energy. Rycu couldn't keep using his attack much longer so he abruptly stopped.

Rycu could see them still with their guard up and he clenched his fist in anger, "Still not enough," Rycu thought. Rycu put his hands on the floor and closed his working eye, everything around Rycu started to shake gently but he kept on going.

"What's he doing now?" Gildarts asked. Rycu's flames in his hands suddenly got twice as large, Rycu reopened his eye and stood back up, Rycu held his hands together and it created a giant ball of fire.

Rycu threw the ball of fire at them and they could barely see anymore, Rycu teleported next to Gildarts and Laxus then smashed their heads together. Gildarts and Laxus both fell back but Rycu grabbed them both and spun them around as fast as he could while he had been lit on fire.

Rycu let go of both of them and they flew into the stone wall at light speed. "I think we're finished here," Rycu said as he clapped his hands. Laxus and Gildarts stood back up, "Yeah, there's no need to fight on, I think you can pass on to the final round," Gildarts explained.

"Hell yeah!" Natsu shouted as he sprung back up from the floor. Natsu dragged Rycu out of the cave as fast as he could. "We won!" Natsu shouted to everyone. "More like Rycu won, you were down half of the fight," Gajeel said.

"Shut up!" Natsu shouted and sprung at Gajeel. "Anyway, it is now clear who will be moving on to the final round, I'm afraid Elfmen and Evergreen are eliminated," Makarov said as they sulked off.

"So this leaves us with Gray and Gajeel who defeated Erza, Bickslow and Freed who lived up to Laxus' expectations and Rycu and Natsu who managed to defeat Gildarts and Laxus," Makarov announced.

"Now, for the final round, all three teams will be put into a free for all, the last team standing will become S class while the other two teams enter another fight and the team that wins that fight will become S class as well," Makarov explained.

"Sounds straightforward," Bickslow said. "You will have a break for now and in one hours' time you will all be fighting," Makarov finished. All the S class wizards came out of the cave and they sealed it off with a boulder.

"What's so special about this cave?" Natsu asked Gildarts. "Oh, this cave? Well, this was the cave that the first master, who was called Marvis as you know, sometimes she practiced her magic here, this cave is special to the guild and it's what we can use to remember her by," Gildarts explained.

"I don't really know a lot about her," Natsu said and scratched his head in embarrassment. "You'll find more out about her as time goes by but it's better that you find out now anyway so you can have a better understanding of it," Gildarts explained.

"The main thing is, she created the Fairy Tail guild and ruled as its first master, so we treat most places she used a lot specially." Gildarts said. "So why is it called, 'cave of the dead' that's such a dark name," Natsu said.

"That's the name it had already been given before Marvis started to train there," Gildarts said. As Gildarts and Natsu continued to talk about Marvis, Rycu was sat down on a bench with his head faced down so Erza came up and sat next to him.

"Is something wrong?" Erza asked Rycu. "No, it's just that I can feel a familiar dark magical presence, I must have met them while I was young but I can sense they've been here before," Rycu said.

Erza started to think of all the dark wizards that had been to the island before but she could only think of two, "Was it Zeref? I know for certain he has been here a couple of times," Erza asked.

"No, I could recognise Zeref from a mile away," Rycu said. "What about a member from Grimoire Heart?" Erza asked and suddenly Rycu's eyes opened up wide and he remembered it all, his history with them.

"What, is it?" Erza asked. "Yes for certain, I can remember them like it was yesterday, they were a horrible lot," Rycu said. "What's happened between you and them in the past, I doubt you would have been able to take Hades on, it took me, Natsu, Laxus, Lucy, Gray and Wendy to beat him," Erza said.

"I would have a death wish if I had done that, I have unfinished business with him so when I find him he's dead meat," Rycu said. "Rycu honestly I don't think even you could beat him and anyway, he died, Zeref killed him," Erza said.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Zeref's always one for surprises," Rycu said before he got up from the bench and walked off to Makarov. "What is it Rycu?" Makarov asked. "I can feel there's something wrong, I can feel the magical presence of Hades like he's been here not long ago," Rycu said.

"There's no need to worry, Hades is dead, he carried a very strong magical presence with him so it would be normal to feel something like this, if Hades was somehow alive then I doubt he'd ever try to mess with us but Rycu, if you feel it is getting stronger or you feel something's wrong with you then just let me know," Makarov said.

Rycu nodded his head and walked back off to Erza.

"I don't know what you have planned next Zeref but I'm fully prepared."


	73. The First Victors

(Sorry I've been inactive for so long, I've been busy)

Rycu walked back over to Erza and sat down on the bench next to her again, "What did Makarov say?" Erza asked. "He just said it's normal to feel his presence on this island because he was very powerful but he said if it gets worse then I should tell him," Rycu explained.

"Does it feel like it's getting any worse?" Erza asked in curiosity. Rycu never gave a response, he just stared forward, "Rycu?" Erza asked again but Rycu still didn't give a response, Rycu bowed his head forward and grabbed it with both of his hands.

"What's wrong?" Erza asked. Rycu couldn't hear anything else other than a ringing noise in his ear and whenever someone talked it hurt more. Rycu looked at his hands, for him they looked red but in reality his left hand was normal but his right hand had a black symbol on it and they both felt numb.

With no warning, Rycu's body fell to the floor and he was unconscious, everyone rushed over in confusion, "What the hell happened?" Natsu asked as he leaned down to Rycu's body and shuck it gently.

"He just all of a sudden went unconscious with no warning," Erza explained. Makarov looked at Rycu's body and processed what was happening. "Wait, what's going to happen with the match?" Bickslow asked.

"Gajeel and Gray can fight Bickslow and Freed, if Rycu hasn't woken back up in a few hours then Natsu will have to fight and if he wins they'll both be S class," Makarov explained as he stared down at Rycu's body nervously.

The two teams and some of the S class wizards left to get prepared for the battle while the others stayed behind. Mira, Erza, Makarov and Natsu were left standing around Rycu's body.

"What should we do now?" Natsu asked. "We should let Rycu rest but this mark on Rycu's hand has me stumped," Makarov explained. "Maybe it's something to do with what's happening to him?" Mira asked.

"That's exactly what I thought, so we need to find some sort of way to remove it," Makarov explained. "How'd he even get it?" Natsu asked. "He said he felt the presence of Hades even though he died plenty of years ago so maybe it's something to do with dark magic," Erza suggested.

"So it would be logical if we use some light magic to get rid of that mark and only Makarov uses light magic out of us all," Natsu explained. After a while Makarov finally knew what was going on.

"I think I figured out what's happening to him," Makarov spoke. "What is happening then?" Mira asked. "Remember a long time ago Rycu was abducted Eileen and August?" Makarov asked. "I remember that like it was yesterday," Natsu said as he thought back to when he and Rycu beat August together.

"That was when dark magic was introduced to him, he will forever have dark magic attacks like his spiral dragon attack but he has too much of it so I need to remove some of the darkness or it will consume him and he'll become a very powerful dark wizard then turn against us," Makarov explained.

"So you're saying if some of the dark magic from his body isn't removed then he'll be consumed by it and wipe us all out?" Natsu asked. Makarov nodded his head and kneeled in front of Rycu's body to start removing the darkness, "Stand back," Makarov ordered.

Everybody moved back a couple of steps, Makarov held his hands above Rycu's body and closed his eyes tight. A ray of light came from his hands and projected onto Rycu and it started to remove some of the darkness from his body.

The darkness that had now disappeared from his body was replaced with his dragon slayer magic, making it stronger. Once Makarov had finished removing some of the darkness he stood back up.

Makarov looked at Rycu's hand and the dark symbol that was on it had now vanished, "What should we do now?" Erza asked. "Just leave him for a while and he should wake up soon, Erza and Mira, you two go with everyone else and prepare for the battles, Natsu and I shall stay with Rycu to make sure he's ok," Makarov explained.

"I'd rather stay with Rycu," Erza asked. "No, Erza I need you to watch over everyone else while the battles take place and make sure there is no other suspicious activity going on, I may be wrong, someone could be doing this," Makarov said.

"I sure hope not," Mira said worriedly. "Fine, I'll be keeping a close eye on Rycu as well though," Erza said as she walked off to the battle ground with everyone else. As they left Natsu let out a big sigh of relief, "Well, at least we know for certain Rycu is safe," Natsu said in relief.

"I honestly think something has happened between Rycu and Hades before, they must have crossed paths at some point in their lives and my guess is that it wouldn't have been a friendly encounter," Makarov said.

"Not even Rycu could stand up to someone like Hades, anyway, it must have been before we encountered him and Hades didn't even mention anything about Rycu so guess we have to ask him after," Natsu said.

Hiding in the trees, one eye stared at the three of them while they continued the conversation, "I guess that didn't work, Makarov is handy with his light magic I guess, I can't wait to see the future unfold once again, next time I meet him I'll have to do it with my bare hands then," the person said and tightened their fist, "I am your future…Rycu."

The person hiding in the trees left them and moved on to wait for their next plan to unfold, "Was it just me or did you hear someone over in the trees?" Natsu asked. "You probably just heard everyone else over by the battle ground, you know how good your hearing is," Makarov said.

"I'm just paranoid that someone is always watching Rycu, I just want to make sure he's safe, I'd be lost without him and I know Erza would be lost as well, she always looks for him if something goes wrong," Natsu said.

"I'm sure if someone is after Rycu, we'd make sure they'd bring no harm to him and if they hurt him, we'd make them pay, wouldn't we Natsu? You're the person who always encourages that!" Makarov exclaimed.

"Do you want to go watch the fights? I'm sure I'd be fine looking after Rycu on my own," Makarov said. "Nah, wouldn't you prefer to have company anyway?" Natsu asked and gave a giant smile, "I guess I would," Makarov replied.

Gray, Gajeel, Bickslow and Freed were all put in an arena and they stood opposite each other, ready to fight. "I'm sure you understand the rules already and what this round is," Gildarts said.

"It's simple, you two teams need to fight until there is one team left standing, just don't overdo it, we don't want to destroy half of the island, the team that wins this battle will become S class and the team that loses will face against Natsu and if Rycu recovers in time then you'll be up against him too," Laxus explained.

"I hope you enjoy this while it lasts because I'm about to smash both your faces," Gajeel said. "Hate to admit it but I think we're kind of screwed if you asked me," Bickslow whispered to Freed.

"Have confidence!" Freed whispered back. "Don't hold your hopes too high!" Gray shouted as he and Gajeel charged towards Freed and Bickslow. "You get Freed and I'll get Bickslow!" Gajeel shouted.

Bickslow sent out his mini totems and they grouped up around Gajeel, "Try and dodge this!" Bickslow shouted as they started to charge a laser blast. "Cmon! We both know you're making this too easy!" Gajeel shouted.

Gajeel held out his arm and spun around which destroyed every totem except one which was behind him, as soon as the laser was shot, Gajeel dodged out the way so the laser beam hit Bickslow directly in the chest, "Using my toys against me, smart move," Bickslow panted.

Gajeel grabbed the last totem with his hand and crushed it then threw it over to the side, "Let's start this properly, no stupid totems just fists," Gajeel said. "What? I'm not an idiot, you have fists like steel, it's a death wish to go one on one like that," Bickslow said.

"Fair enough," Gajeel said as he charged towards Bickslow again. Bickslow started to pull down his mask which would blind anyone who looked at him, "Aww crap," Gajeel said as he closed his eyes.

Bickslow pulled his mask back up and punched Gajeel in the face which pushed him back. Gajeel closed his eyes and charged towards Bickslow, "I can use my senses," Gajeel though and he was listening for where he would attack next.

Gajeel suddenly spun around and kicked Bickslow in the face who was trying to sneak up on him, "I have sharp senses you know, you can't just sneak up on me like that," Gajeel explained as he reopened his eyes and punched Bickslow across the floor then let out a giant roar that almost burst his ears.

Freed was launching many symbols at Gray and he was barely able to keep up with him, "Alright, this is just getting annoying!" Gray shouted. He made a giant ice shield and charged through all the symbols.

Gray dodged out the way of traps that Freed had set to trap him, as soon as he got close enough to Freed he lowered his shield and sliced at him with his sharp ice blades which cut a part of Freed's chest and pushed him back.

Gray launched out ice arrows at Freed which pierced his skin but he pulled them back out and launched them Gray. As soon as the projectile hit Gray it just smashed into pieces, "What? I'm an ice wizard, of course it won't hurt me!"

"Then this will!" Freed shouted as he launched at Gray and punched him right across the face. Freed the launched a symbol and it hit Gray then exploded which blasted him across floor on his back.

Gray lifted himself back up, Freed sent out another symbol but Gray made an ice shield so the symbol made the shield break and Gray charged at Freed as fast as he could. Gray made his ice blades appear on his arm, he sliced Freed's arm and then kicked him in the face. Freed looked at his arm and it just left a scratch, it wasn't a deep enough cut to make him bleed.

"Right let's end this fight!" Gray shouted. Gajeel and Gray both kicked Freed and Bickslow into each other and made them bash heads. Gray made tens on ice objects and Gajeel roared at them which blasted all of them at Freed and Bickslow. All of them hit them and damaged them heavily, when the objects hit them the smashed because of the impact which hurt them more.

Once all of the ice objects had been smashed against Bickslow and Freed, Gajeel stopped roaring and let out a cheer, "Hell yeah we won!" Gajeel shouted in rejoice. "Looks like we're S class and they'll have to fight Natsu!" Gray cheered.

"Hey! You two get prepared for the next fight then, you don't have long until the next fight!" Laxus called. "Let's be honest, we don't stand a chance against Natsu unless we find some way to trick him," Bickslow whispered. "We can beat him easy! Just have faith!" Freed shouted. "That's all you ever say," Bickslow murmured.

Freed suddenly had a bright idea and he whispered his plan to Bickslow, "Oh, that is just perfect!" Bickslow complimented.

"Natsu! It's time for the fight!" Erza called. Natsu looked down at Rycu nervously, "Looks like I have to fight on my own, are you sure he'll recover soon?" Natsu asked Makarov, "I'm certain he'll be up soon," Makarov answered.

"That means I can just beat up them two by myself, this will be fun."


	74. The End Of The Trials

_**(I'm basically treating this story as a rough copy, once this has been finished I'm going to write a new story and once I've wrote quite a bit of the story I will start to re-write this story and make it much better, it will be published as separate story and I'm taking all advice I have been given so you have that to look forward to in the future!)**_

Natsu stepped in the battle ground, opposite of Freed and Bickslow, "Prepare yourselves," Natsu said. "All of you already know the rules so just get to the fighting already!" Laxus shouted. "Remember the plan that we have," Bickslow whispered. "Plan you say? I'd like to see how that will turn out for you," Natsu wondered.

Bickslow sent out his mini totems and they all grouped together in front of Natsu, Natsu let out a giant roar of fire which collided with the beam of energy they sent out. Natsu's fire overpowered the laser beam and it burnt the totems to a crisp. Freed made many different traps on the floor which Natsu noticed, as he charged towards them he dodged out the way of the traps but he was so focused on his footwork that Freed sent out many symbols that all hit Natsu and caused a giant explosion that blasted him back.

Natsu just smiled, "You made a big mistake," Natsu said. Freed and Bickslow looked at each other in confusion, while they weren't looking Natsu launched at them both, he bashed their heads together and then dragged them through the floor. As Natsu dragged them Bickslow managed to turn himself around and kick Natsu in the leg which tripped him up and made him fall on the floor.

Freed grabbed one of Natsu's legs and used it to throw smash him in the floor multiple times. Natsu grabbed Bickslow's leg and smashed him into Freed so he would let go of him, Freed loosened his grip on Natsu but still didn't let go, Natsu head-butted Freed so he would let go of him completely.

Natsu rolled away from the two of them and prepared for what they had planned next for him, instead, Natsu launched at the two of them who were still thinking over their plan, Natsu slid on the floor and made a full rotation which made them fall over, he then grabbed Freed by his arm and smashed him on top of Bickslow.

Natsu walked away and clapped his hands, "Is that all you have in store for me?" Natsu asked. Freed and Bickslow stood back up, "Not at all, we are about to use our plan, you have no way of winning now!" Bickslow exclaimed. Bickslow made more of his mini totems appear around him, "Ready Freed?" Bickslow asked. "Now!" Freed shouted.

Natsu charged towards the two of them, half of Bickslow's mini totems grouped up behind Natsu and half grouped up in front of him. Natsu turned around and was about to launch out fire at them but Freed made his purple symbols explode on Natsu, Natsu kept getting hit by the totems that Bickslow had placed in front and behind him so he kept being juggled in the air and couldn't control which direction he would move. Without Natsu noticing, Bickslow pulled down his mask, one set of the totems stopped firing so Natsu was blasted towards Bickslow and he stared straight into Bickslow's eyes which made him blind.

Natsu landed back on the floor and looked around in confusion, "Not this again," Natsu thought. Natsu kept getting hit from left to right, he tried to use his senses but he could handle keeping track of both of them at the same time, "Had enough Natsu?" Freed asked as he could see Natsu was getting extremely tired now.

Natsu stumbled back and almost fell to the floor, Bickslow jumped at Natsu one last time and punched him in the face which blasted him back and made him fall to the floor in defeat, "I think we win this fight," Freed said. Erza started to get worried, "We need Natsu and Rycu for the S class trials though."

Freed and Bickslow started celebrating their victory, "Not so fast!" Someone called, everyone smiled as they saw who it was, "Rycu?" Natsu whispered. "I'll take over Natsu and I'll finish them off," Rycu said. "Now we are definitely screwed!" Bickslow shouted. "I'd like to see what plan you come up with this time," Rycu wondered as he launched at them both.

Rycu jumped at them from the same direction that Natsu did so they raised their guard, just as it looked like they were about to clash Rycu suddenly appeared behind them, he grabbed both of them and smashed their heads into the floor and kicked them both across the floor. He suddenly appeared in front of them again and he picked them both up then threw them into a giant tree that felt as hard as stone.

"We admit defeat," Freed wheezed. "Nice job, you finished them off in a matter of seconds with no magic," Laxus complimented. "That means we're S class, hell yeah!" Natsu shouted as he stood up and walked off in a random location because he couldn't, Natsu's vision came back moments later since Bickslow had been defeated.

"Feeling better?" Erza asked Rycu. "Yeah and I feel much stronger too but I can still feel a strong magical presence of a dark wizard and it feels as though they are watching me in particular, I don't know what they possibly want from me," Rycu said as he looked in the trees and bushes and caught a glimpse of something but when he looked again it had disappeared.

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough and we'll get some answers hopefully from whoever this person may be. The weird thing is, only you are feeling this presence so why would that be?" Erza asked. Rycu just shrugged his shoulders, "I have no clue whatsoever, I just want to move on to that S class quest we all have to go on and get that done, they could be closer than we thought to achieving their plan and that just spells disaster," Rycu explained.

"We have at least one month till they have completed their plan so we are setting off next week I believe, they can't be extremely powerful wizards but we can't lower our guard, they could be stronger than we estimated," Erza said. "Wait, what would happen if they were successful in their plan?" Rycu asked.

"We now know that they are trying to unleash a demon called Dellia, it is a similar demon to Deliora but much more powerful than we imagined, if that thing gets unleashed then there's no stopping it, we would need the help of the magic counsel to at least re-seal him," Erza explained.

"Everybody, we will now leave for the ship and set sail back home!" Makarov announced. Everyone let out a cheer as they made their way to the edge of the island where the ship was floating, before they left Rycu looked back one final time at the bushes to see if anything was watching him but he still saw nothing. Natsu was still very excited and happy about winning, "Without you we would have been done for!" Natsu exclaimed. "Calm down will you? You're as annoying as a parrot," Rycu complained. "What? Sorry I'm just overjoyed that I'm finally S class after so long!" Natsu shouted. "I hope you'll change when we get on that ship," Rycu moaned. "Don't you dare talk to me about transportation, it makes me sick just thinking about it," Natsu said and he almost vomited.

While they were sailing home, Natsu, Rycu, Wendy and Gajeel were all hanging over the side of the boat and their faces were completely purple, "Just…end…me," Natsu complained. "Why do dragon slayers have motion sickness? Why? Just why us?" Gajeel complained dramatically. "I wish I could use my spells but…I'm sick as well," Wendy moaned and almost vomited.

Rycu was quiet, he just kept saying in his head, "It'll all be over soon," then he looked over to his right and saw they were miles away from land, "Just end my suffering!" Rycu shouted. Erza hit all four of them on the back of their head which knocked them out, "At least they'll be quiet now," Erza said. "I was just about to do the same thing," Gray said.

"Gray! Your S class now, isn't that amazing!" Juvia shouted. "Please, please just leave me alone," Gray asked as he turned away from her and covered his ears to block out any sound that she was making. "Just accept my love for you Gray!" Juvia shouted. "Can't hear you!" Gray shouted.

"As soon as Rycu was on the battle field he destroyed Freed and Bickslow, he definitely got a power boost after some of the darkness was removed from his body," Mira said to Erza. "He could honestly wipe the floor with most people here, no one is a match for Rycu other than people such as Acnologia and Zeref," Erza explained.

Erza started thinking about what Rycu said and how he feels that someone's watching him, "Something wrong Erza?" Mira asked. "It's just that Rycu said he can feel the presence of a dark wizard who is watching him so I'm just curious about who on Earth is watching him and why can't we feel the presence that he does," Erza said.

"I didn't feel a dark wizard presence other than the darkness in Rycu's body so I have no idea what it may be, it could be someone he has met in the past?" Mira questioned. "We won't find out until we ask Rycu when we get back to the guild," Erza said.

The dragon slayers unfortunately woke up and they had to endure a few long, painful hours of motion sickness. As soon as they made it back to land, all four dragon slayers leaped off the boat, "Land! How I've missed you!" Natsu shouted and kissed the floor. Erza pulled him off the floor and started dragging him back to the guild hall, "Let's just get going."

When they entered the guild they were all greeted by a giant cheer, "Guess you became S class?" Lucy asked as she jumped into Natsu. "Ugh…yeah I won by myself, I didn't need Rycu, he didn't even help!" Natsu proclaimed. Rycu hit Natsu on the head, "More like you got beat up most of the time and I won the battles by myself."

"That seems like the right answer," Lucy giggled. "Well…I started the fight against Bickslow and Freed on my own because you were fast asleep since you had that darkness extracted from your body," Natsu complained. "What darkness?" Lucy asked. "It was some leftover darkness that Rycu had in his body from when he was captured from Eileen and August," Erza explained.

"That reminds me, I never really apologised for back then when I smashed you into the floor and that," Rycu said as he scratched his head. "Oh, that's ok, it wasn't your fault, you couldn't control yourself back then, we're fine don't worry about it!" Lucy said cheerfully as she put her arms around Rycu and Natsu.

"I wish I could join you on that S class mission you lot are going on but Makarov said it is too dangerous for me to go on so I can't really protest," Lucy said. "We're up against some very powerful demons and wizards," Erza said.

Makarov called over all the S class wizards so Lucy left them while Makarov talked to them, "So as you all know, in one weeks' time you will set off on a mission to stop these dark wizards unleashing a very powerful demon. You are teamed up with Sabretooth, Lamia Scale and Featherstone. Do not underestimate these dark wizards just because you have more people, these are some of the strongest wizards that use dark magic. I need all of you to train as hard as you can over the next week, everything depends on you," Makarov explained.

Rycu looked behind him and he thought he saw someone staring at him through the window but as soon as he blinked it was gone again, all the S class wizards left to go train with each other and get prepared for what they would be up against.

"I guess we meet soon…Rycu"


	75. Gathering The Guilds

_**Sorry if my writing is a bit weird this chapter, I just went through a horrible experience involving a dead pigeon and a pug.**_

Just like they all did before, everyone trained intensely over the next week, Natsu, Gildarts, Laxus and Rycu all trained together since they were the most powerful while Erza, Mira, Gray and Gajeel all trained together. Rycu mainly focused on fighting Gildarts since he could barely beat him and Natsu focused on Laxus. They mainly teamed up, sometimes it would be Rycu and Natsu vs Gildarts and Laxus or it would sometimes be Rycu and Laxus vs Gildarts and Natsu, either way, Rycu always managed to win the fight with or without his teammate.

"Cmon Rycu," Gildarts huffed and puffed, "are you ever going to lose a fight against us?" Rycu shook his shoulders, "It depends on the circumstances I guess, if I had been worn down by someone else like Laxus then fought you then I would get annihilated by even Natsu," Rycu explained. Rycu and Laxus had just won a match against Gildarts and Natsu so they were celebrating their victory. Rycu was looking off the side of the cliff they had just fought on and he was watching as the sun set in the distance.

"Something bothering you?" Laxus asked. "No it's just that, I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong on that mission we all have to go on," Rycu said. "Just trust me, everything should be fine on that mission and if something does go wrong and that demon gets released then we can fall back to the magic counsel and they'll launch a cannon blast in its area and it should do enough damage that it'll be sealed away again," Laxus explained.

"What would we do if that didn't work?" Rycu asked. "Look, there's no need to question it, if that doesn't work we'll think of something, we always find a way to come out on top of everyone else," Laxus said. Rycu though for a moment, "Your right, these losers better get prepare for what's coming their way." "That's the spirit!" Laxus cheered as he patted Rycu on his back.

Rycu looked over to where the others were fighting, they were on the other side of the city, on top of a hill. They also had just finished fighting with each other, sometimes it would be Gray and Erza vs Mira and Gajeel but they mainly just kept Erza and Mira vs Gajeel and Gray, they would insist on mixing up the teams but Erza would refuse to work with Gajeel for some unknown reason.

"What have I done wrong?" Gajeel asked but Erza just kept her mouth shut and face away from Gajeel like a baby, "Looks like it's the same teams then," Gray moaned and prepare to fight again. "Why are we even fighting again?! It's sunset and even the others are going home!" Gajeel complained. "Well they are super strong and do more intense training than us so we just train longer," Mira explained. "I'm super strong as well, I'm on par with Natsu and Gajeel isn't that much weaker than him!" Gray shouted.

"We split ourselves into two groups so we put the strongest four in their own group otherwise they'd just wipe the floor with us!" Erza shouted back. All they did was fight most of the time and eventually take a break and that was all they did for the next week; it was a long cycle.

 _ **Day before the mission**_

It was night and everyone had just finished up training for the day, all of them met up by the cliff Rycu's team had been training on and they all sat at the ledge with their feet hanging over. "Tomorrow's the day of the mission then?" Natsu asked. "Yeah, those guy I'm guessing aren't going to go down without a fight," Laxus said.

"What sucks is that we know nothing about them but they know about us apparently so they'll be able to counter some of our attacks since they already know about them," Rycu moaned. "With you on our side though they don't stand a chance against all of us!" Erza said. "But they probably have a trick up their sleeve so what could they be thinking?" Rycu thought.

Everyone talked for a while and talked about the mission and what they'd do, eventually people started to leave until there was only Erza and Rycu left. Erza moved along the cliff so she was sat next to Rycu and she put both her arms around his chest, "I love you brother," Erza spoke. "I love you too sis," Rycu responded. "Can I ask you something?" Erza asked. "What is it?" Rycu asked. "In your past, did you come across any dark wizards?" Erza said. Rycu stayed silent for a while but eventually answered, "I can't tell you anything about my past yet, you are not ready for it." Erza still wondered why she wasn't ready but eventually she forgot about it.

Rycu and Erza stayed at the cliff for a long time, staring at the night sky until Natsu came back, "Come on Rycu!" Natsu shouted as he pulled Rycu from the ground. "Alright I'm coming. I'll see you in the morning then," Rycu said as he hugged Erza then made his way back home with Natsu. "Hey Natsu!" Lucy shouted as she came out of nowhere and put her arm around him. "Hey Lucy! What are you doing here?" Natsu asked. "As was wondering if you could get the cat," Lucy said as she pulled out Happy from a bag she had on.

"You said you would look after him while I was gone," Natsu said. "I already have the urge to kill him," Lucy whispered. "Oh hey Natsu, I'm guessing Lucy's told you how annoying I've been," Happy shouted. Natsu hit Happy over the head and It knocked him out cold, "Just do that to him whenever he starts to annoy you, that's what I do," Natsu explained as he shoved Happy back into Lucy's bag.

"I'll see you in the morning before you leave!" Lucy shouted as she ran off back home, everyone returned to their homes and slept peacefully over the night. The next day Rycu and Natsu were still sleeping since it was early in the morning, that was until someone stormed in. The door crashed open and it woke up Natsu and Rycu, "What the hell?" Natsu said.

"Get up, I just found out we're leaving early," Erza said as she pulled Natsu off the ground, "But it's four o clock in the morning!" Natsu shouted. Rycu just stood up and dragged Natsu to the guild behind him, "We don't have any time to complain otherwise we'll miss our ride to the place," Rycu said. Once they had reached the guild everyone met up and Makarov went over what was happening, "A few changes are taking place, Sabretooth have been sent on a different mission so they have been replaced with Blue Pegasus," Makarov explained.

The thought of working with Ichiya again made Erza shake a bit, "Anyone but him," Erza whispered. "Also, Gildarts and Laxus have gone with Sabretooth as backup so you now have Lucy as a replacement," Makarov said. "I though you said it's too dangerous of a mission for her?" Natsu asked. "I did but since you and Rycu will be there I think she'll be safe enough," Makarov explained."

"Who is coming from the other guilds?" Rycu asked. "Leone, Jura, Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve. Sunjlie, and Flace are the members from Featherstone. Like last time you will all meet up in the Blue Pegasus guild hall," Makarov said. A while later they set off in a carriage towards the Blue Pegasus guild hall which was in quite a remote location, it was in the middle of a random forest somewhere in Fiore but it had its own path made for it.

"Why is there no other way than vehicles?" Natsu complained as he, Rycu and Gajeel were hanging out the sides of the carriage they were being transported on. "What? Do you want me to have to knock you out again?" Erza asked. Natsu shook his head before he leaned back over the window and was almost sick. "We are only one more hour away so just hang on," Lucy said as she patted Natsu's back.

"The last hour has felt like one year!" Gajeel shouted. The next hour or year in the dragon slayers case, was fully of everyone complaining but they eventually made it outside of the guild doors. Ichiya was stood outside of the guild doors to meet them, "Welcome my friends, I see you have Rycu with you," Ichiya stated.

Ichiya stuck his hand out in front of Rycu for him to shake, "So you are Rycu, apparently you are Erza's brother," Ichiya said. Rycu shook his head then Ichiya went up to Rycu's ear and whispered, "Can I have permission to date Erza?" Ichiya asked. "Not in a million years," Rycu said as he grabbed Ichiya and dragged him into the guild hall.

When they walked inside Hibiki and Eve were already waiting there, Hibiki and Eve went up to Lucy and sat her down on a comfy sofa, "Hey, we know Erza's off limits so how about you?" Hibiki asked as he winked at her. Natsu walked up to them then hit Hibiki and Eve over the head then threw both of them off the sofa and he sat down next to Lucy, "Lucy isn't up for grabs either," Natsu stated.

"Hello brother," Leone said as he stepped through the guild doors with Jura. "It is good to be working with you all again and with new people," Jura said as he looked towards Rycu specifically. "This new guild that's joining us, what are they like?" Gray asked. "I've met them before, there is no need to worry they are quite bright and friendly people," Jura explained.

"Rycu, I understand you are Erza's brother?" Jura asked. "Indeed I am," Rycu said as he stretched his back. "I hear you're quite the powerful wizard so it's good knowing that you're on our side," Jura said. "With the creeps that are involved with darkness, I feel much better not being with people like that," Rycu explained. "How long till the last guild arrives?" Natsu moaned.

"Speaking of them," Rycu said as he pointed to the doors since he could hear them coming nervously. The two of them stepped through the door and their legs were shaking nervously even though they were fully grown adults, "Umm, hello, we're Sunjlie and Flace, we are the members from the Featherstone guild," Sunjlie explained.

"Nice to meet you both," Erza said. They both observed everyone in the room and recognised them all but they were extremely excited about one person in particular, "Oh my gosh is that Rycu?!" Flace asked in excitement. Everyone looked at Rycu and he shook his shoulders. Sunjlie and Flace rushed over to Rycu, "I've heard so much about you! Apparently you saved our guild once from some big monsters, your so cool!" Flace shouted in excitement.

"Looks like you have some admirers Rycu, I wonder if I have any…of course I do, why wouldn't anyone like me!" Ichiya exclaimed. "Ichiya, I can think of at least one thousand reasons to why I hate you just off the top of my head," Erza said bluntly. "Don't you love me my love?!" Ichiya shouted. "Why would I like you?!" Erza shouted back.

"Now that we have everyone with us, I think we should go over what's happening with this group of dark wizards before we head into battle without thinking this through properly," Jura said. "I can't wait until I get to beat up these guys for wasting my time, I could have done something else like do a fashion show," Leone complained.

"Alright, here's the plan!"


	76. Medusa

_**(Just to let you know, from now on there won't be a certain number of words, each chapter will just be full of what I want to cover in the story at that point so there could be a short chapter of just one battle or a long chapter extending the story, I'm sure you know what I mean)**_

Everybody went up to a table and circled around it, holograms kept coming up, circulating in a pattern, "First of all, Christina is high in the skies, it's watching out for the enemy base since we have no clue on their whereabouts other than that they are in this forest surrounding the guild," Ichiya explained.

"We know they are trying to resurrect a demon called Nomada, it will be able to wipe is all out if we're not careful, it's most likely stronger than Deliora so if it does manage to get free then we have to report back to the magic counsel immediately while some of us keep it occupied. There are six or seven of these dark wizards so we already outnumber them but that doesn't mean they're weak," Jura said.

"They are highly skilled when it comes to dark magic so we have to be extremely careful around them otherwise we'll find ourselves getting destroyed," Hibiki said. "They are very close to resurrecting the demon so we don't know what's the last thing they'll need to finish off but we need to find out what that is and we need to get to it first otherwise their mission would be a success," Eve explained.

Ichiya looked at the map from Christina, "Wait a second! I think I can see them on the map!" "Well let's get going!" Gray shouted as they all rushed out the large doors and made their way to where they were on the map. As Rycu ran he looked back Sunjlie and Flace then thought to himself as he put on a dark blue scarf that went over his mouth but not tight enough to make him be quiet.

Natsu and Rycu sprinted in front of everyone else and they were leaving a trail of dust behind them, "Slow down you two, we're supposed to stick together just in case we get attacked!" Lucy shouted. Rycu and Natsu both stopped running and stood at the edge of a cliff, across was Christina, floating in the sky and keeping a look out for the six dark wizards.

"They must be somewhere down there," Gajeel said. Rycu heard movement behind him and he turned around to face six dark wizards. "Found them," Rycu whispered. "I guess you do have some pretty sharp senses," The girl in the middle said. "Who are you?" Erza demanded as she stepped forward.

"No need to get so vicious, we're just here to get the last piece for what we need for the resurrection," The person on the right said. "Allow me to introduce us all, I am Medusa and they are Jax, Dusk, Weelo, Tusk and Friero," she said "You already know who we are but just to clarify, I'm Rycu," Rycu said. Medusa smiled to herself and whispered something to her friends which the others couldn't hear.

"What sort of stupid name is Medusa anyway? Naming yourself after the queen of the underworld is stupid!" Natsu exclaimed. "I'm called Medusa because…I bring death and destruction to everyone who comes in my path!" Medusa shouted. "How did you get here so fast? Just a second ago Christina showed you were all the way down that cliff!" Ichiya asked.

"Oh…that ship?" Medusa asked as she clicked her fingers and Christina exploded into flaming pieces. Ichiya's mouth opened wide in shock, "Nooo Christina!" Ichiya shouted as he jumped off the cliff followed by Hibiki and Eve, "Don't worry, we'll get to the ship and see what we can do," Eve said. "Let's get this started," Medusa smiled.

Both sides charged at each other but Medusa and Rycu didn't move and they both stared at each other from across the battlefield. "What does he have planned?" Rycu thought to himself. Tusk held a small horn in his hand and watched as Erza charged towards him, it suddenly changed sizes so it was giant, Erza sliced her sword at it but it didn't even leave a mark. Tusk blew into his horn and it made a terrible noise which almost burst Erza's ears.

Erza stopped in her tracks and grabbed onto both her ears which caused her to drop her sword, the horn that Tusk had become small again and it was glowing purple. He blew into it again and it sent out giant notes which had a purple lining around them, when one of them hit Erza it sent her flying back and made her death for a while, "You ok Erza?" Natsu shouted but she couldn't hear a thing.

Natsu was about to rush up to her but he was suddenly hit by a metal fist which had been delivered by Jax, Natsu punched at him but dodged out of the way. Jax directed his fist at Natsu, as his fist was traveling, three small rocket boosters gave Jax's fist a boost in speed and it launched Natsu across the floor. Natsu stood back up and was ready to attack, Jax aimed his fist at Natsu and three tiny missiles launched out which blast Natsu back again and left lots of damage.

Dusk had sand flowing around him quickly and he used it as a shield, Gajeel jumped at the shield and punched against it but it kept up strong and caught Gajeel in the sand. It flowed him through with the sand, dusk directed the sand and made it crash into the floor and then crashed it through more of their allies. Jura made a giant stone launch out from beneath Dusk but he easily dodged out of its way the caught Jura in the sand along with Gajeel so he kept colliding them with the floor.

Friero jumped at Leon and punched him straight in the face with a flaming fist, "So this guy uses fire magic like Natsu?" Leon thought. Leon launched out an ice beast but it was shattered to pieces with one punch from Friero. "Is that all you got?" Friero shouted as he spun around with two flames in his hands which made a flaming tornado which crashed directly on Leon and burnt him severely.

Weelo had many different coloured hands surrounding her, a blue one aimed directly at Lucy and shot out a blue laser that wrapped around her leg and dragged her towards Weelo. She was pulled from the ground and Weelo caught her by her leg, a yellow hand aimed directly in front of Lucy and it shot out seven yellow orbs which all hit her and gave her a great electric shock.

Medusa and Rycu finally broke their silence and launched at each other, Rycu punched a flaming fist but Medusa caught it, when Rycu punched with his left hand, his fist went directly through her and had no effect on her. Medusa then pushed Rycu back but then did nothing else. "Why didn't he take that opportunity to deliver a devastating attack on me, she could have one shot me if he wanted to," Rycu thought. Rycu charged at him again but tried to circle around him and hit him from behind, "What are you?" Rycu shouted.

"I'm just a powerful dark wizard," Medusa said as she caught Rycu's fist again and pushed him back for a second time. Rycu looked around him and saw everyone was down for the count, "I have to win otherwise everyone will be slaughtered," Rycu thought. Rycu stood directly in front of Medusa and did nothing but neither of them attacked, "Why don't you just attack me?" Rycu asked.

"Fool," Medusa whispered as Rycu realised what mistake he had made, the next second Rycu had a green shield around him, he punched against the wall but it just sent a harmless shockwave through the shield surrounding him. Rycu started to panic as he realised he was slowly starting to pass out thanks to Weelo's shield he had made with a green hand. "Kill them all," Medusa ordered

Rycu pushed his hand against the shield and leaned over as his eyes started to close, "I have to save the others at least," Rycu thought. Rycu managed to make himself wide awake for a while longer, everyone else glowed green and they didn't know what was happening to them, "Wait…what is happening to us?" Natsu asked. All of a sudden all of Rycu's allies vanished to another location in the forest and Rycu passed out.

The shield that had surrounded Rycu now disappeared, all the six dark wizards surrounded Rycu. "You idiot Rycu…you're the one we've been looking for this whole time, with you we can now resurrect the demon and it's all thanks to you," Medusa said. "They were easy to take out, they definitely don't live up to their names or the rumours about them," Friero said. "Just as I thought I'd finally get a good fight," Jax said.

Medusa picked up Rycu and put him round her shoulder, "We'll take Rycu back to the base and we can finally, resurrect, the demon."

 _ **(Sorry it's kind of short but this is all I wanted to do for this chapter)**_


	77. The Resurrection

Erza opened up her eyes and leaned up in confusion to see everyone laying on the floor, on top of that she noticed Rycu was now missing from the group, "Wait, what…happened?" Erza asked. "I don't really know, we fought those dark wizards, got our asses handed to us and then something happened with Rycu but my vision is a bit hazy," Natsu said. "I think I remember," Lucy said as she stood up.

"Yeah, those punks trapped Rycu in some sort of weird shield and then Rycu managed to teleport us out there, I think they got him though," Gajeel explained. "Why would they take him, why wouldn't they just kill him on the spot, I know that sounds dark but you know how these wizards can be," Gray said. "Whatever they're doing with him clearly isn't good, Natsu, can you pick up any of the cents?" Jura asked.

"No, I can't even pick up Rycu's," Natsu said. "Damn Rycu and his death wishes, he doesn't even fear death," Erza thought. "What are we waiting for then? We have to go save Rycu!" Lucy shouted. "Not so fast," Leon said as he stuck his arm out. "What do you mean? Gray asked.

"They're all probably grouped together still, if we all just attack again we'll get our ass handed to us again and most likely not get out with our lives this time, we don't even stand a chance without Rycu so we can try to take them out one by one," Leon explained. "How are we supposed to get Rycu back, they won't just hand him over, they'll protect him from us," Gajeel said."

"I have an idea," Sunjlie said. "What is it?" Natsu asked. "First of all we'll try and locate Rycu, once we find their base, which is where they'll be, we attract their attention while some others sneak in and save Rycu, simple!" "I'm not sure, where do we meet up when we get split?" Jura asked. "When we get in, give us a few mins and then you can retreat, we'll meet back here!" Flace explained.

"As long as we hold up against them for a while we should be good, who's sneaking in?" Leon asked. "Me and Flace can do that as well," Sunjlie said. "That seems fine as well, now let's get a move on people!" Lucy shouted as she pointed towards the direction they would search first and they all rushed off.

Rycu opened his eye and observed his surroundings, he was face down in a shallow poll of water, in front of him was a great beam of light that shone brightly. Rycu still was unharmed and he looked normal still, he had all his clothing including his scarf. Rycu felt his head and it has hurting a bit, as his vision readjusted to the surroundings he could figure out more for where he actually was.

He could see rocky walls around him and there were tiny lights the size of pinch of salt that shined brightly and circled around the beam of light, he figured there would be an exit somewhere behind him. Rycu slowly began to stand up and listened to what was behind him, he could already hear the six wizards behind him. Rycu turned around to see all of them waiting there impatiently, "You sure took some time," Medusa complained as she passed by Rycu's right side.

"I'm guessing this is your stupid base were you have been working to revive this demon?" Rycu asked. "It is indeed, we have worked so long to revive this demon and now one final step remains before the demon is unleashed and that involves you Rycu," Medusa said. "Why me of all people?" Rycu asked.

"Oh, that's simple, we need an unimaginable source of power which possess both light and dark magic to release their magic energy into this beam of light, you're the only person we knew who possessed both light and dark magic, that's why we need you. If you just put your hand into this beam of light, it will drain your magic, revive the demon and then your free to go completely unharmed," Medusa explained.

"Like in hell I'd do that," Rycu said. "I'd rethink what you're thinking," Jax said as he hit Rycu forward. Rycu lit a flame in his hand and stood ready for a fight, "I said I'm not reviving this stupid demon!" Rycu shouted as he jumped at Medusa, she dodged out the way and grabbed Rycu's fist into the light, Rycu tried to pull his fist out but it was completely stuck and it had already drained through most of his magic energy.

As soon as the last drops of Rycu's magic had been extracted, his fist was free but he was barely awake still, Medusa grabbed his falling body by the back of his neck and held his head up by his hair so he could see what was happening. There were six balls circulating the blue light at a slow speed but it kept speeding up until it was so fast you could barely see it, the balls fused with the laser beam and it changed it to a golden colour.

The ground started to shake and the beam started to get bigger until it exploded after a while, the beam was now a giant size and everyone could see it, it was the entrance for the demon, Medusa let out a small laugh, "Now it's only a matter of time until the demon comes through that gate and all hell will break loose."

Rycu looked at where they were now, they were still in the cave but they were further away than where they were before. Medusa threw Rycu's body back onto the floor and he couldn't even move, "What should we do with him now?" Friero asked. "He still hasn't run out of his usefulness yet, I know what we can use him for exactly," Medusa said.

"I think I know what you have in mind," Weelo chuckled, "For now he stays here," Medusa said, she clicked her fingers and he had chains attacked to each of his limbs from the walls. "I don't care what you do right now, just let me know if you see his friends coming, then we know _they'll_ be here," Medusa said. "Oh yeah _them_ ," Dusk said. They all separated to do their own thing but Medusa stayed in the room with Rycu.

"How do you feel now?" Medusa asked. "Like crap," Rycu said as he managed to barely talk. "Well, as soon as this demon is released, only my friends and you will survive," Medusa explained. "Why spare me?" Rycu asked. "I'll just say, you're more useful than I originally anticipated," Medusa said. "What else could I be useful for?" Rycu asked again, "That's something you don't need to know right now," Medusa said, "be quiet now and get some rest, your job isn't finished yet."

"Hey, you see that giant light?" Natsu asked. "Yeah, Rycu's most likely going to be there so we better get there fast, this isn't a good sign considering the demon," Erza said. The force of the beam of light caused objects to float around it and some of them would get launched out in a random location. "Watch out!" Lucy shouted as she tackled Natsu out of the way of a giant stone that came crashing down.

Jura inspected the stone carefully and noticed some symbols engraved on the stone, "What the hell do they say?" Gray asked. "Just give me a second while I check," Jura said as he pulled out a book and started checking each symbol. Natsu looked at Erza and noticed she was panicking a bit, "Look, Rycu's going to be fine, we'll get him back soon enough," Natsu said. "I know but…that light is caused by something they did to Rycu most likely so, what are they doing?" Erza asked. "Beats me," Natsu said.

"I got it now, these symbols read, 'Oh Nomada is the almighty, he will never be beaten, he brings death to all he meets'," Jura explained. "Whoever wrote that clearly isn't great when it comes to writing," Natsu said. "Look, we're just wasting time now, we have to hurry up before the demon gets resurrected, that's if, it isn't too late," Lucy said.

"I told you all already, it's not too late!" Natsu said as he started running with the others. "I think we're close now because we've gotten closer to the light!" Flace exclaimed. "Over there!" Leon shouted.

"I think we need to get ready," Medusa said as she stood up and walked out of the cave they were in and waited outside with the others ready for the confrontation. Natsu's group turned round the corner and became faced to face with all the dark wizards again and they stood there looking fearsome.

"All I can say guys is, remember the plan!"


	78. Rescue Mission

"Decided to come back for a bigger beating?" Medusa asked. "No, we're just here to get our friend back!" Natsu shouted. "Sorry, you aren't getting him back, I still have use for him, I have realised how amazing his power is and I can make much more use of him than I originally thought, I can control him to how I like and wipe everyone out with him," Medusa explained.

"I don't care, we're taking him with us! Why do you even need him now?!" Natsu asked. "You see, Nomada, the demon we have longed to resurrect, Rycu was the last thing we needed to resurrect him, we needed his magic energy to bring him to life, thanks to him, the Nomada will be here soon, and everyone will be doomed other than us," Medusa said.

Natsu clenched his fist and it lit with a flame, "When we get Rycu, we'll all work together and we'll crush you, even if this demon comes, we're going to stop him and you won't stop us!" Natsu shouted. Medusa looked at them all and noticed the two people missing, "I guess Sunjlie and Flace were too scared to fight were they?" Jax asked. "Does that matter? We can crush you now with only us!" Gray shouted. "Let's put you to the test," Medusa said.

Sunjlie and Flace had snuck around the giant group and was searching for another entrance, "Were would there be another entrance?" Flace asked. They both weaved through all the trees surrounding the base but they couldn't find a thing, "Maybe the front entrance is the only one, if that's the case then there's no hope on saving him," Sunjlie said in a depressed voice.

"We can't just give up! We have to keep looking otherwise we don't stand a chance against these idiots!" Flace exclaimed as he leaned up against a tree. They both heard a snap as the tree Flace was leaning on tumbled over and pulled the roots out along with it. The tree fell flat on the floor and left a hole in the ground which Flace fell in.

"Well…I guess we found our way in," Sunjlie said as she jumped down the hole, landing next to Flace. It was a long hallway and it split off into many directions, "Which one is he in?" Flace whispered. "We'll have to see," Sunjlie whispered back as they slowly checked round the corner of the first door.

Inside was cluttered with cloths, food and weird gadgets, on the wall there were parts of metal that spelt out, 'Jax'. Flace and Sunjlie rushed through the rest of the rooms and all of them were the same, each room was made for one of the dark wizards, all of them were cluttered except Weelo's and Medusa's, Weelo's room had many bookshelves filled with many books about dark magic and even books on Zeref and Acnologia.

"We haven't found him yet, is he even here? What if they took him somewhere else to trick us?" Sunjlie asked. "Well, there's one more room to go," Flace said. They both slowly move over and leaned so they could see what was there. They could both see Rycu's body chained up to the wall and he was passed out.

"Rycu!?" Flace said in a panicked voice as he rushed over to Rycu and shook his body. Rycu didn't give a response. "We have to get him out of here quickly," Sunjlie said as she broke off all of his chains then put him round her shoulder. They both rushed back down the long hallway, to the hole they entered through. Sunjlie boosted Flace through the hole, Sunjlie then passed up Rycu's body before she came up herself.

Natsu's team had been worn down already and Medusa's team hadn't even been hit by an attack, "We have to head back now, I'm sure they have got Rycu by now," Erza said. Natsu nodded his head and everyone else moved back a bit before they ran off to make their way back to the meeting point.

"Are we going to go after them?" Weelo asked. "No, let them go, it's part of them plan," Medusa said as she turned around and walked back into the cave. "What the hell?! They took that stupid rat Rycu!" Friero shouted in shock, "I told you this one time already, it's all…part of…the plan," Medusa said looking clearly annoyed. "Oh, that stupid plan? I'd like to see how it ends," Friero said. "Even IF the plan doesn't go the way she wants it to, the Nomada will still be resurrected," Weelo said as she hit Friero in the back of the head with one of her magic hands. "Alright, alright I get it you magic hand freak. At least I use my own hands to fight," Friero whispered. "You know I wear these black gloves for a reason, one touch with my bare hands spell instant death, would you like to be test subject?" Weelo asked as she gripped the end of her black glove. "Moving on, everyone split up in the forest and start to hunt them down," Medusa ordered and everyone left.

Sunjlie and Flace had wondered around in the forest for a while until they found a good spot to rest for a while, they laid Rycu's body down on the floor, "The poor thing has been drained of his magic energy, he should have gained back most of it by now but he still needs rest," Sunjlie explained. They rested for a while longer and eventually Rycu's body twitched before he finally awoke.

Rycu leaned up and looked around, "What the?" Rycu thought. "Rycu, good to see you're awake!" Flace said cheerfully. "We went on a rescue mission and were successful, we'll meet up with the others soon," Sunjlie explained. Rycu stood up and followed the direction Sunjlie and Flace were leading him, "Just don't get us lost or I'll be mad," Rycu said as they weaved throughout the trees.

Natsu's team had managed to make it back to the meeting point and they all just wondered around, talking to each other, "They've been a long time now, do you even think they made it out of there without getting caught?" Leon asked. "I hope they did, without Rycu we honestly stand no chance, especially against that Medusa or that Weelo girl, their power is on a completely other level," Lucy said.

"We say that about most of our foes but even I hate to admit, Rycu's our biggest hope in winning," Natsu said. "Have we got any information back from Ichiya yet?" Erza asked. "No, still not a thing," Jura sighed. "We can't just do this," Gray said. "What is that supposed to mean?" Leon asked. "It means, we can't just stand around here waiting for Sunjlie, Flace and Rycu, those dark wizards are hunting them down as we speak, we need to split up and search for Rycu before they find him and take him back," Gray explained.

"He does have a point," Lucy said, "if they find Rycu again and capture him, they'll guard him heavily, the only way to get to him then would be fighting and beating them which Rycu is the only one who can beat a few of them, in other words, there's no hope for any of us." "Right we'll split up, the teams are, Natsu, Gajeel and Lucy, Gray and Leon then me and Jura," Erza explained. "That sounds fine to me, let's go!" Natsu shouted as they all split up.

As Sunjlie, Flace and Rycu walked along, it felt like they had been going for hours, they went through most of the forest and still hadn't found where they needed to be, "Alright let's stop, be honest with me now, are we lost?" Rycu asked. "Maybe," Sunjlie whispered. "Let's take a break then," Rycu said as he took a look around where they were.

Rycu noticed a huge stone with some writing engraved on it so Rycu moved closely to read it, "this is weird," Rycu thought as he read the writing but then he suddenly had a thought which made all the pieces fell together in his head.

"Beware of the fearsome eight, two extra members? They're Sunjlie…and Flace?"


	79. Reunited With A Friend

"That took you a while to figure out didn't it?" Sunjlie said as she slowly approached Rycu along with Flace. Flace aimed his hand at Rycu and a black beam of energy shot out but Rycu managed to dodge out of the way while the stone was destroyed. "I'm in no shape to fight right now, I have to escape," Rycu thought. "We did this all just to capture you, we faked the guild so we could join you and we helped get you captured by giving away our location," Flace explained.

"Then why would you help me escape in the first place?" Rycu asked. "Since we helped you escape, your friends will expect us to get back, if we aren't back in a while, they'll split up to find us but they'll be killed off one by one," Sunjlie explained. "We are the seventh and eighth members, we are far from the strongest but with our combined powers we're unstoppable," Flace explained.

"We use different magic, I use light magic and he uses dark magic, when they are combined though, it creates an unstoppable force of power," Sunjlie explained. "Now we have to signal where we are then they'll all come, then we'll take you back to base and wait for the demon to resurrect," Flace explained. "Medusa told us we could beat you however we like, I think the best way to signal our allies is with a strong attack, we'll use you as a target!" Sunjlie shouted as she started to charge up an attack.

Flace and Sunjlie both launched out a ray, one white, one black, the crossed paths and fused together which made a golden beam of energy that hit Rycu straight in the chest. Everyone saw it, "There," Medusa said as she pointed to the golden light. A giant cloud of smoke was made and no one could see each other, when it had cleared Rycu had disappeared, "Well done!" Flace shouted as he ran in the direction he thought he had gone.

Rycu was in fact hidden behind one of the trees since he couldn't run or fight much, as soon as Sunjlie and Flace's voice had pretty much disappeared, Rycu came out of cover and looked around to make sure he was safe. Rycu slowly made his way through the opposite directions of trees Sunjlie and Flace had just gone through. "Thank God I got rid of them, now I just need to find someone who is friendly then I should be safe," Rycu said to himself.

When Rycu looked back up to the sky, he saw some smoke coming from the direction he was walking so he started to pick up the pace to find out what it was. When he reached it he saw before him the remains of Christina, Ichiya's ship, it was in many pieces, it couldn't be fixed until they finish the mission since they didn't have enough time.

"Why hello there Rycu," said a man who was digging through the remains of the ship with his two other friends. "Who are you?!" Rycu demanded as he clenched a fist. "Calm down it's just us!" Ichiya said as he stepped out of the shadows with his two friends, "Hibiki and Eve next to him. "Of all people to run into, I found these idiots?" Rycu thought.

"We're just looking through Christina, she is in pieces if you can't tell, we'll get her sorted after all this is done, what happened to you anyway? You aren't in good shape yourself," Ichiya said. "Sunjlie and Flace, they are both members of that group of wizards, they managed to hit me with a strong attack," Rycu explained as he put his hand over his chest. "Those two are working with the dark wizards? Stupid traitors, I can patch you up a bit and restore some of your magic energy," Eve said as he walked over and started to restore Rycu's magic. "What exactly happened after we left?" Hibiki asked. "The wizards beat us all up and captured me, they used me to free the demon, he'll be here soon and it's all my fault," Rycu said and he looked depressed.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, it's not your fault, there's nothing you could have done, we're going to make things right and we'll give these guys a beating they'll never forget," Eve said. "I'd like to see you even leave a dent on us," A figure said as he smashed a tree that was in his way. "This can't be good for us," Ichiya said as he stopped scavenging through the ship and he stood up to face the man.

"Hello you tiny man, my name is Jax and I'm here to take that rat Rycu," he said. "Well you're not getting him, Hibiki, Eve, get Rycu as far away from here as you can, I'll handle this guy," Ichiya said. "No," Rycu said as he stood up, "I'm fighting as well, I don't care what state I'm in I need to give this guy a beating for being a big douchbag." "That's my specialty," Jax said as he stretched his metal fists.

At least let me help," Eve said as he used some weird spell on Rycu, "what did that do?" Rycu asked. "It healed up those wounds and restored most of your magic energy, now go kick this guy's ass for me," Eve said. "You stand back a bit, by the time I'm done with this guy, he'll be nothing but pieces of scrap metal," Rycu said as he cracked his fists.

"Try and dent this metal then, it's the strongest around," Jax said as he punched his fist into the floor and caused the land to crack and rocks to burst up. "Well I've been able to destroy a mountain in one punch," Rycu said as he punched his fist into the floor and it blasted all the land beneath Jax up which pushed him up along with it. Jax darted his eyes at Rycu in anger, "And the fight starts now!" Rycu shouted as they both launched at each other.

Natsu and Gajeel would refuse to talk to each other and Lucy always had to shut them both up. "I can't believe Erza put us in a group together," Gajeel moaned. "Just shut up I don't want to be with you either, I'd rather be slapped by every girl in the guild five times each then be on a team with you," Natsu complained. "You know I could arrange that to happen if you like?" Gajeel asked as he pushed his head against Natsu's.

"You two just shut up we're supposed to be saving Rycu!" Lucy shouted as she punched them both in the face. "Sorry Lucy," Both of them whispered and sulked off. "Anyway, which way are we supposed to be going?" Natsu asked. "Where that golden beam of light came from," Lucy explained. "What?! When did that happen?! This isn't good at all, which direction is it? Rycu could be in trouble! Why are we still standing here?" Natsu shouted as he jumped all over the place panicking.

"Calm down Natsu," Lucy said as she grabbed him, "I'm sure Rycu's going to be ok, we have to go help him now so let's go," Lucy said calmly. Natsu sighed, "Your right but with him being their main target it has me worried." They all heard another explosion, "We have to hurry up now," Gajeel said as they started sprinting in that direction.

As they ran, all of a sudden there was a giant roar of fire that was aimed directly at the group, Natsu managed to react in time and he ate all the fire which powered him up even more. "What the hell?" Lucy asked. Natsu pointed to up top where there was a man high up in a tree watching them, "You have some cool magic dragon slayer," the man said. "Who are you!" Natsu demanded.

"Oh me? I'm Friero, member of the eight dark wizards, I use fire, just like you," Friero explained. "Since when were there eight of you losers?" Gajeel asked. Friero let out a small laugh, "I guess you aren't up to date, Sunjlie and Flace, they are one of us, it's all been planned out, in other words, it was a bad idea to trust them two with the task of saving your friend," Friero said.

"Also, you probably haven't noticed yet but you all have a number on your right hand, us dark wizards have it too," Friero said. Everyone looked at their hand and saw the number eight, "This'll show how many of us are still fighting, whenever one of us are defeated the number will go down," Friero explained.

Natsu didn't care about it, he was just still in shock that Sunjlie and Flace had betrayed them, "Lucy, go and find Rycu quickly, me and Gajeel will handle this idiot," Natsu ordered. "But Natsu…" Lucy said. "Now!" Natsu shouted. Lucy ran off in the direction they had originally seen the golden light.

"Now, now, that isn't how we should talk to girls now is it," Friero said. "If a friend's life is on the line then I'll do anything I have to, to save them," Natsu said as his fist was flaming. "Wow, you're actually serious are you? I don't even know why you're trying, it'll already be too late for him," Friero explained. "I wouldn't take him too lightly, that was my biggest mistake," Gajeel said. "Well, the chat's over, let's get to the fighting!" Friero shouted as he jumped down from the top of the tree with a flaming fist.

Gray and Leon were walking around, Gray was desperate to find Rycu while Leon didn't care as much. "Gray, calm down, remember Natsu and Erza's group are looking for Rycu as well," Leon said. "You don't understand, they have more people looking for him than us, they'll find him soon and he doesn't have anyone to help him," Gray said.

"How do you know that? What if one of our allies has found him?" Leon asked. "That doesn't matter, I'm not taking any chances anymore, I can't lose him along with all the other family I've lost. Everyone at our guild is family to me, and he's a part of that," Gray said. "Be honest with me Gray, have you become so paranoid about family since Ultear died? I know she meant a lot to you," Leon asked. Gray never gave a response and just walked along.

"They're not the only family you're going to lose, you can add everyone except Rycu to that list," said a mysterious voice. "What the hell," Gray asked as he turned around to see a weird man holding a horn. Leon immediately recognised who it was and he blew out a few of his notes from his horn, "Watch out!" Leon shouted as he dived into Gray which pushed him out of the way.

"That's tusk, he's one of those dark wizards remember?" Leon asked. "Oh yeah and he's the one who helped get Rycu! Where is he?!" Gray shouted. "That's the reason I was out here, to get that fool but I was also told to wipe the floor with you if I ever saw a few of you," Tusk said. "Once, I'm finished with you I'll find Rycu, reunite with everyone else then we'll crush what's left of you all!" Gray shouted.

"I like your determination to beat us, shame for it to go to such a waste since I'll make sure there'll be nothing left of you both, even if Rycu survives against a few of us, he'll be destroyed in a matter of seconds by Weelo and don't even get me started on Medusa, she has the power of a demon,"" Tusk explained.

"Just shut up, I don't care about you rambling on about how strong you all are, I just want to get this over and done with now, I've quite frankly had enough of you and stupid mouth," Gray said. "I say we take him down already, together," Leon said, "You're right, we'll take him down, together."

"I must say I am confused Erza, of all people, why would you chose me as your partner?" Jura asked. "Honestly, you're the most mature out of all of them, they all mess around like children," Erza said and let out a huge sigh. "I think we should start to pick up the pace, we saw that golden ray of light not long ago so there's still time to save him before they get to him," Jura said.

"You're right," Erza said as she started to run to the location with Jura as fast as they could. As they ran there was sand slowly moving but then it picked up in speed, all of a sudden the sand circulated in a circle around them and acted as a wall surrounding them, "Why hello there," the person said as they walked slowly behind them both. "Who are-" Erza was saying before she was hit by a giant blast of sand which hit her back.

"I'm not really one who likes talking but to let you know, my name's Dusk," he said. "Erza are you ok?" Jura asked. He tried to make a wall of stones blast up around Dusk but as soon as they rose they immediately broke down into sand. "Sorry but that won't work," Dusk said as he hit him with a blast of sand as well.

"I don't even know why I'm forced to waste time on you lot, your too weak, I wish Medusa would do it because it would end much faster, even Weelo could beat you in one attack, you got unlucky facing me though, I like to take out my enemies slow and drain all the life out of them, make them feel what pain truly is!" Dusk said.

"You're just sick!" Erza shouted. "You think I am, you should see Medusa, she gets satisfaction whenever she hurts someone, even for me that's too far," Dusk said. "You're all just crazy to be honest, that's why we're going to put an end to you and your sick group!" Jura shouted.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure your deaths are just as long and painful!"


	80. The Unlikely Duo

Rycu and Jax's fist crashed into each other which sent a giant shock wave around them, as Jax concentrated on Rycu, Ichiya managed to power himself up and punched Jax in the chest which blasted him upwards. "Come here you rotten rat!" Jax shouted as two mini rocket boosters came out of his armoured fist, they released fire which gave him a boost of speed. Jax boosted towards Ichiya and punched him straight across the face which made his body slide across the floor.

"Ichiya are you alright!?" Hibiki and Eve asked in sync. "Yes I'm fine," Ichiya answered as he pulled out a comb from his coat pocket to tidy up his messy hair. "You're really gonna comb your hair in the middle of a battle?" Jax asked. "Men!" Ichiya shouted as he threw the comb on the floor. "Come on I wanted a fight not a chit chat!" Rycu shouted as he jumped towards Jax and hit him across his face.

Jax stood still and just smiled, "Is that it?" Jax asked. "This can't be good," Rycu thought as he took a small step backwards. Jax grabbed Rycu by the back of his head then smashed it into the floor. Ichiya ran up to them both and attacked Jax with yet another punch. Jax was holding Rycu down with one of his hands so he used the other to punch Ichiya away.

"What's this?" Jax asked as he saw some red start to glow around Rycu's feet. A burst of fire came out of Rycu's feat and it was enough force to lose Jax's grip, Rycu grabbed Ichiya and spun him around so he was heading straight for Jax. "Take this!" Ichiya shouted as he hit Jax across the face with a giant punch and it managed to knock him back and it even managed to hurt him a bit, "Oh yes, Men!" Ichiya shouted in rejoice.

"Of all people I'd be teaming up with, it had to be Ichiya," Rycu whispered in a depressed voice. "Nice going Ichiya!" Eve shouted. "Don't get too excited, you've managed to pull one attack that barely even hurt me, the effects aren't even visible and by the time you pull another attack that'll hurt me, I'll already be healed. On the other hand, I'm consistently hitting you with powerful attacks and you have no time to heal," Jax explained.

"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you…because the fights just beginning!" Rycu shouted as he was surrounded by flames. "Let's test your true power!" Jax shouted back as he aimed at Rycu then shot out some tiny missiles. Rycu managed to dodge out the way of them and they exploded right beside him, as Rycu was about to attack even more were shot out and they wouldn't stop coming from Jax's fist.

"Is there no end to these?" Rycu thought. "The amount of missiles I launch is linked to my magic energy, I can basically shoot an infinite amount of these because I'll never run out of magic by the time your toast!" Jax shouted. "I can dodge these for as long as I can!" Rycu shouted back. Jax had a small smile on his face, "I guess I didn't mention did I? These missiles are also homing missiles," Jax said.

Rycu was then hit by a giant swarm of missiles from behind and it knocked him to the floor, "Watch out!" Ichiya shouted. Rycu looked up and there was an unimaginable amount of missiles surrounding him, "No escaping this!" Jax shouted and then there was a giant explosion from all the missiles colliding. Everything went silent.

Everyone around the forest stopped and looked over to a giant cloud of smoke which was followed by a tremendous explosion. "What the hell was that?" Gray asked Leon. "That doesn't matter, concentrate on the battle!" Leon shouted. "Sorry," Gray said as he concentrated on tusk. Lucy saw the explosion and began to run even faster towards its source.

"What was that?" Natsu asked. "Not good clearly," Gajeel said. "It's most likely your friend being blown to pieces by Jax," Friero laughed. "I swear, if you harm Rycu anymore…I'LL KILL YOU!" Natsu shouted as he leaped at Friero with two flaming fists.

"For a dragon slayer, that was too easy," Jax complained. "This can't be good," Hibiki thought. "Now that your strongest is down, we can crush the rest of you!" Jax shouted as he prepared to finish off Ichiya. "What have I told you already about getting so cocky?" Rycu said as his shadow came visible from the smoke and then the smoke vanished. "How on earth did you survive that!?" Jax demanded.

"I know, on impact, those missiles create an explosion of fire, Rycu can consume fire so when all of those missiles made impact, Rycu consumed the fire which means…" Eve explained. "I just made him more powerful," Jax said. "I really want to kick your ass right now so let's get back to the fighting now, you and your cocky attitude will be the cause of your defeat," Rycu said as he lit a flame in each of his hands.

"Agh! That doesn't matter! I'll still win even if you are powered up, I'm too strong for you!" Jax shouted in anger. "Here comes the cocky attitude again," Rycu moaned. Rycu jumped across at Jax at an unstoppable speed that barely gave time for Jax to react. Both of their fists collided and caused yet another great shockwave. The armour plate around Jax's fist started to crack, "Wait what?!" Jax shouted in confusion. The armour plates started to fly off one by one until half of it was gone.

Jax backed off, "What are you?" Jax asked. "Finish him Ichiya!" Rycu shouted as he pointed towards him. "Oh yes!" Ichiya shouted as the muscles around his arms started to grow to an unbelievable size, in the process though, it ripped off his shirt so all that could be seen was him flexing his huge muscles.

"Die you evil doer!" Ichiya shouted as he launched at Jax with his fist wound up for a punch. "You've got to be ki-" Jax was complaining before he received a giant punch from Ichiya across the face. "Victory has been achieved comrades! Oh yes men!" Ichiya shouted in excitement as Jax fell to the floor. Ichiya celebrated for a bit but Hibiki and Eve stayed behind cover and Rycu was still ready to fight.

"What is it? Why are you still hiding and fighting? We beat him right?" Ichiya asked as he began to become worried. Rycu lifted his hand and showed Ichiya his hand which showed how many of the dark wizards were left. "Wait a second…" Ichiya said as he saw the number, "It's still at eight?!" Ichiya panicked.

"You really think I'd go down that easy then?" Jax asked as he slowly stood up and everyone could sense great magic power rising within him, "Stay back," Rycu warned. "I won't fail, I can't fail! If I do, Medusa would kill me, literally, you won't beat us all anyway! So what's the point in even trying to beat us! Can't you see how superior our power is compared to your weak magic!?" Jax shouted.

Pieces of metal armour began to surround Jax, it all slid onto him until he was completely covered. "He's got a whole suit of this armour?!" Hibiki said sounding worried. "It's nothing they both can't handle, I have an idea anyways but we'll have to wait for the time being," Eve explained.

"This is my true power!" Jax shouted as he smashed both his fists together on the floor which blasted rubble up along with Ichiya and Rycu, "Oh how the tables have turned!" Jax shouted as he jumped up towards them both and smashed Rycu into the floor. Ichiya swung a giant punch at Jax but when it hit it had no effect on him, he hardly noticed it, Jax then grabbed Ichiya and spun him around before smashing him into the floor which made him slide along it.

Jax landed on the floor and stood in front of Rycu who was on his back, Jax swung his fist at Rycu and aimed directly for his chest. Rycu held both his hands out to block the punch, Jax's fist hit Rycu's hands directly. Rycu was using all of his force to push against Jax's fist and swore he even heard some of his bones starting to crack but he still pushed against it. Jax then spread his hand out so it was flat and it launched out a beam of energy which greatly hurt Rycu.

Ichiya punched at Jax again to hope he could do some damage but it still did absolutely nothing to him. "Stop being a pain!" Jax shouted as he punched Ichiya straight in the face which blasted him far, far away from the battle area. "That doesn't look good, you go find Ichiya and make sure he's ok, I'll activate this plan and we'll beat this punk!" Eve explained.

Hibiki ran off and Eve stood out to activate the plan, "Rycu!" Eve shouted. Rycu looked over to his direction and he was hit by a spell, "What's this do?" Rycu asked. "It'll give you a boost in strength, this could be enough to beat him, I'll be here to boost your power, we'll do this together!" Eve shouted. Rycu nodded his head and stood up, he could feel his boost of power.

"That won't change a thing!" Jax shouted. Rycu punched Jax in the face and it sent him flying back. Jax felt his mask and there was a hole in it that exposed his left eye, "You son of a b-" Jax was saying before he was hit with another strong attack that blasted him back yet again, when Jax observed his armour a part of his armour on his left arm and right leg was broken.

"You won't win!" Jax shouted as he punched Rycu and it made him slide across the floor. Rycu stood back up and he still felt perfectly fine, Jax launched out some more of his mini missiles and they all targeted Rycu, as they approached a wave of fire blasted out of Rycu and destroyed all the missiles. Jax launched at Rycu and punched him straight in the chest but he didn't move at all, "The tables have turned," Rycu said as he clenched his fist. "You're the one who's going down!" Rycu shouted.

Rycu punched Jax's mask and it broke off the last pieces, "I've had enough!" Jax shouted as he jumped at Rycu again and punched him directly in the stomach then chained many attacks with his mini missiles and finished off with a giant laser attack which made him feel like he was being burnt by acid.

Rycu was on his knee and was starting to lose his fighting spirit, while he was thinking about what he should do he heard someone call, "Rycu! Hold on!" he heard a voice shout and he recognised it as Lucy's. "A little girl eh? Maybe she'd be a nice meal!" Jax shouted. "No, your battle is with me," Rycu said as he stood up and was sparking with electricity and fire.

"Let's end this!" Eve shouted as he was using multiple spells on Rycu, "What on earth?" Rycu thought, he could feel his power rapidly rising. "I'm using lots of strength buffs on you, it's time to finish this guy off!" Eve shouted. Rycu smiled and slowly approached Jax. "I can feel, so much power," Rycu said as he closed his eye and when he reopened it, it was a rainbow colour.

Jax slowly backed off, "What the hell!" "I thought you were going on about how tough you guys are, let's if you can take a hit like this!" Rycu shouted as he made a giant flame appear in his hand and it was a rainbow colour that shone brightly. "LET'S FINISH THIS!" Rycu shouted as he punched Jax straight in the chest, it made a shockwave that blasted everyone back and completely destroyed all of Jax's armour in one hit.

"I can't believe, I lost," Jax whispered as he fell to the floor in defeat. Rycu closed his eye and reopened it again, he was back to normal. Rycu looked at his hand to see how many were left.

The number ticked down from eight to seven.

 _ **Tell you what you think about this chapter! I personally I think this was one of my better fights, feel free to leave a review!**_


	81. Memories

"At last one of them is finally down," Rycu said in relief. "Yeah! Nice going Rycu!" Eve shouted. "Rycu!" Lucy shouted as she hugged him, "Thank god you're safe, we were all so worried but it looks like you managed to handle one of them!" Lucy said as she looked over to Jax's lifeless body. "While you two get sorted out, I'll go check on Ichiya," Eve explained as he walked into the think crowd of trees.

Lucy let go of Rycu and breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm sure Natsu will be happy now!" Lucy exclaimed. Lucy then thought for a moment and remembered the situation Natsu and Gajeel had got into. "Something wrong?" Rycu asked. "I just remembered, Gajeel and Natsu were fighting against this weird guy that uses fire, Natsu sent me off to find you but I'm worried about them, that guy looked strong, I think his name was Friero?" Lucy said.

Lucy grabbed Rycu's arm and tried to run off to where Natsu was but Rycu stayed still and barely nudged forward. "Come on Rycu, we have to get there fast!" Lucy exclaimed. Rycu let out a giant sigh, "I can't catch a break can I?" Rycu moaned as he followed behind Lucy who was dragging him along.

They both ran for a while but Rycu was put off by something, "What is it?" Lucy asked. Rycu could sense something around them but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it could be. "Spill the beans! We don't have time to mess around!" Lucy complained. Rycu's eyes suddenly opened wide and he dived forward which knocked him and Lucy to the floor. Lucy saw a giant blast a light from where she was originally standing and the blast knocked Rycu and Lucy along the floor.

"What the?" Lucy thought as she looked over to the trees. "Protecting your friends are you?" said a familiar voice as they and another person stepped out of the trees. "Sunjlie and Flace," Rycu whispered. "You traitors!" Lucy shouted as she stood up and pulled out one of her zodiac keys. "You think your celestial spirits will be any use? All of them are pathetically weak other than that Aquarius one but you sacrificed her didn't you?" Sunjlie chuckled.

Lucy clenched her fist and all the horrible memories from when they fought against Mard Gear came back but the memory of destroying Aquarius' key to summon the celestial spirit king stood out and a tear rolled down her eye, "Don't you ever mention Aquarius again!" Lucy shouted as her tears came out uncontrollably. "Don't let them get to you," Rycu whispered. "I just wonder how many more of your spirits you'll sacrifice until you're satisfied," Flace teased. Lucy just fell down to her knees with tears rolling down her eyes, "I thought I told you…TO NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN!" Lucy shouted and pulled out her Taurus zodiac key.

"I call upon the celestial spirit Taurus!" Lucy shouted and her spirit appeared in front of her wielding his axe. "You made miss Lucy cry, I'm afraid now I'll have to make you suffer," Taurus threatened. "Like a cow with an axe will hurt me," Sunjlie laughed hysterically. "How pathetic," Flace added. "They've pushed Lucy over breaking point," Rycu thought. "Show no mercy," Lucy whispered.

"It would be a pleasure," Taurus said as he charged towards them both. Taurus spun his axe around but Flace stopped it with one of his hands and shattered it to pieces then punched him the face. "Mooooo, that hurt," Taurus complained as he grabbed his nose. "Leo the lion!" Lucy shouted as she pulled out his key and summoned him. "Lucy, be careful now, you already have Taurus out as well," Leo explained.

Lucy stayed quiet and changed to her zodiac forms. She somewhat of a cow whip but it was blazing with fire and was extremely sharp. "Just go get them," Lucy whispered. Leo ran up as well and shouted, "Regulus impact!" Leo swung his shining, golden fist at Sunjlie but she easily caught his hand and swiped him away.

Lucy rushed up to them herself and swiped her whip but Flace grabbed the end of it and tugged on it to pull her closer. Flace punched her when she was within distance and then grabbed her by her neck. "I admire your fighting spirit but I'm afraid you don't stand a chance," Flace said as he started to press against her neck. Rycu took a step forward but he was immediately blasted by an attack, "Stay still like a good boy and then this doesn't have to get ugly," Sunjlie explained.

Lucy was trying to pull Flace's hand off her neck and she was kicking her legs around in panic. "Put her down now," Rycu demanded in a serious voice. "Like I'd listen to you," Flace said as he squeezed even tighter on Lucy's neck. Rycu looked down to the floor and lit a flame in his hand that shone brightly, "Do I need to repeat myself? Put…her…down," Rycu demanded.

Flace just kept on squeezing tighter and Rycu could hear Lucy squealing, "Fair enough," Rycu said as he took another step forward before disappearing directly in front of Flace and Sunjlie. "I guess I'll force you to," Rycu whispered into Flace's ear as he smashed his head into the floor, dropping Lucy.

Sunjlie charged towards Rycu but she missed her attack and Rycu punched her in the face with a dark dragon slayer punch. Rycu looked towards Lucy and she was barely awake, "I don't have time to properly deal with you so I'll have to cut this short sadly but thanks for giving me another reason to give you a big beating," Rycu said as he stamped on Flace's body who was trying to get up.

Rycu picked up Lucy and started to carry her away from them but Flace stood up and spoke, "What's even the point?" "What do you mean?" Rycu asked. "What's the point on resisting, your fait has already been set in stone yet you put all your friends lives on the line for your own selfish needs?" Flace asked. Rycu stayed silent and kept on walking, "Don't you walk away, answer me!" Flace shouted.

"I don't put their lives on the line, they chose to do that themselves and they do that because they're fighting for what they want, a better future for us all, they'd risk anything to make sure crooks like you are taken down so we can all live in peace without you," Rycu explained as he continued to walk. Flace thought for a moment until Rycu was out of sight, "What a load of crap, we all know he's just using them."

Rycu walked on for a while until he knew he was a safe distance away, he laid Lucy on the floor and she had managed to regain full consciousness, "Thanks for saving me," Lucy whispered. "No problem, I just can't believe they're both this evil at heart," Rycu said as he looked down to the tree. "We're going to make them pay anyway, they'll realised they never should have messed with us!" Lucy shouted cheerfully.

"That's what you always say though, you can't say that all the time, it's your motivation to fight on isn't it?" Rycu asked. "Yeah, whenever anyone hurts one of us, we all strike back together," Lucy said. "Mard Gear," Rycu whispered. "What makes you bring him up?" Lucy asked. "I heard about what happened a while back, with you lot getting in a war basically with Mard Gear, Aquarius was sacrificed to save you, the dragons came and saved everyone, Acnologia came and killed Igneel, Natsu's dragon father. Zeref also got the book of E.N.D back so now he can make more demons and use them to kill us at his will," Rycu explained.

"Oh, what is that book of E.N.D anyway, what does it even stand for?" Lucy asked. "I can't tell you that yet, now isn't the time," Rycu said. Lucy stood up and clapped her hands together, "Right! Let's go help Natsu!" "Not so fast," Rycu said as he pulled on the back of Lucy's cloths to stop her. "What now?" Lucy moaned. "We now have our own problems to deal with," Rycu said.

Lucy just looked confused, "We have to go handle Sunjlie and Flace," Rycu explained. "Why?! Can't we just leave them I mean I don't want to fight them!" Lucy complained. "We don't really have a choice, we're putting ourselves in more danger by not handling them head on," Rycu said. "How's that make any sense!?" Lucy said as he mind was exploding at this point.

"Let's just find them before they find us and get the sneak attack," Rycu said in frustration and dragged Lucy behind him. "But I don't wanna fight!" Lucy cried like a child and flailed her arms around in the air. "Grow some guts will ya," Rycu complained. "You carry the craziness of your sister!" Lucy shouted. "I'm not that bad you know," Rycu complained. "You most definitely are!" Lucy shouted as she got hit in the back of the head by a tree branch, "Hey mind where you're going!" Lucy shouted and she kept on complaining the whole time.

Natsu smiled as the flame in his hand grew brighter, "See, I told you we could take you down," Natsu said as he noticed the number on his hand go down by one. "Yeah, don't underestimate us you punk or that'll be your biggest mistake!" Gajeel shouted. "No need to rejoice too early, you've only took down one out of the eight of us," Friero said in annoyance. "Says you, you were gloating about how we'll never beat any of you a second ago!" Natsu shouted as he pointed over to Friero.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you manners!" Friero shouted as he made a fire whip that was even melting some of the ground it touched. "I don't have a mother!" Natsu shouted as he boosted towards Friero at full speed. Friero swipe his whip and it directly hit Natsu which made him get blasted right back. "Agh! This burns!" Natsu shouted. "Seriously you're a fire dragon slayer and you got a burn? Stop playing around!" Gajeel shouted. "Alright then," Natsu said as he pulled himself back up and felt the burn.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to get serious."


	82. Reinforcements

"Who do you think you are? You're in no higher power than anyone else!" Erza shouted and pulled out a katana to then change armours. "But we are, we can have everyone at our knees if we wanted to! Sadly, nobody is useful for us anymore other than Rycu!" Dusk shouted as his sand rotated around him faster.

"What good will this do for you! You can't train a demon like this to work for you! They can't listen to you and we'll all end up dead!" Jura shouted as he launched three stones up from the ground which all missed Dusk. "Either way, it's a win for us, even if the demon manages to kill us, you'll be dead too, the demon will kill everyone it sees and that is counted as a victory for us," Dusk stated.

"How could your own deaths be counted as your victory!?" Jura shouted. "That is because, killing innocent lives is our goal but we'd like to take out stupid fools like you as well! No matter the cost!" Dusk explained. "You disgust me," Erza whispered. "I appreciated your comments Erza! They flatter me so much!" Dusk shouted as his sand launched towards them all.

Rycu was walking through the trees with Lucy being dragged behind him, he was watching his surroundings intently to see if they left any tracks anywhere, he even went back to where they had their confrontation not long ago but all that was there was were the destroyed trees and wholes they had made in the ground during its process. "Still nothing?" Lucy sighed.

"Sadly, I can't find a thing," Rycu said as he looked around some more but then finally found something new. "What is it Rycu?" Lucy asked as he started sniffing the air. Rycu went down onto his hands and feet then crawled along the floor while continuing to sniff. "I can smell someone else's sent but I don't know who it may be," Rycu whispered then continued to crawl around.

Rycu suddenly pounced on a different part of the floor and started to dig a hole with his bare hands, "Hey! Mind where you're directing the dirt!" Lucy complained. Rycu continued to dig down until he found something and popped his head back up from the hole. "Never mind, I just found some rusty metal but I still have their sent and it's nearby," Rycu explained as he looked towards Lucy.

Lucy was half covered in the dirt Rycu had dug up and clearly looked very annoyed, "I said WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING THE DIRT!" Lucy shouted as she hit Rycu in the back of the head multiple times, "I'm sorry!" Rycu shouted as Lucy kicked Rycu onto his back and stomped on his chest. "We even now?" Rycu squealed.

Rycu popped out of the whole and started to listen carefully as he could hear rustling from the bushes. Rycu could hear two voices that were approaching them, "Did you hear that ruckus from over here?" one voice said. "Yeah, it sounded familiar," the other answered. "Do you think that could be them?" Lucy whispered. Rycu nodded his head and slowly creped near the bush to get a surprise attack on them.

As soon as Rycu caught a glimpse of one of the people he jumped out with his fist blazing with fire. Rycu looked at the two people and suddenly recognised them as Wendy and Carla, Rycu managed to stop his fist inches away from Wendy's face and it scared her so she quickly jumped back in panic.

"Mind where you're attacking!" Carla shouted directly in Rycu's ear. "Um…sorry?" Rycu whispered. "Sorry we made you panic," Wendy apologised as she scratched the back of her head. "That's ok! Why are you guys here?" Lucy asked as she peeked over Rycu's shoulder. Wendy was trying to say why but she kept on stuttering until Carla pushed her out the way. "We heard thing weren't going to well so we were sent out to help," Carla explained.

"What she said!" Wendy shouted. "Oh, it's not going too bad, Rycu already managed to take one of them out!" Lucy cheered. "Oh really? We heard you all got beaten, they used Rycu to free the demon and it turned out Sunjlie and Flace betrayed you," Carla explained. "How do you know all that!?" Rycu asked. "We were contacted by an unknown source but we had no choice but to trust it," Wendy explained.

"You trusted an unknown source?" Lucy asked in confusion. "We couldn't risk anything!" Carla shouted. "Who knows who could have sent that? It could have been a trap to get you killed as well!" Rycu shouted. "It's better than getting yourself caught to free the stupid demon we were meant to stop from being resurrected!" Carla shouted. Rycu clenched his fist and stared are Carla in the eyes.

"Alright, alright, you two just calm down please," Lucy asked nervously as she stood between them both and pushed both of them back. "Wait, if Carla's here, does that mean?" Lucy asked. "Hi Lucy!" She heard a familiar voice shout. "Please not you," Lucy moaned and turned around to face Happy. "I bet you missed me so much so I obviously had to come!" The cat shouted. "Why couldn't you just stay at home, it would make this a lot easier," Lucy sobbed.

"Anyways, Happy weighing us down clearly isn't our main problem at the moment," Carla stated. "EXCUSE ME!? I'M WEIGHING YOU DOWN?! WE ONLY JUST GOT HERE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN IN ANY CONFLICT?!" Happy shouted, completely enraged. Rycu grabbed Happy's tail and tugged it, "Hey! What's the big deal?" Happy asked. "Calm yourself down, we don't want any attention directed on us," Rycu explained. "Fine," Happy sighed then crossed his arms and looked the opposite way from Carla.

Lucy was just watching and didn't say a thing, suddenly Lucy had a vision in her head, she squeezed her eyes closed, looked down to the floor and grabbed her head in pain as the vision went on. She saw a colossal monster with many helpless bodies across the battlefield from it but there was something else. A man was floating in front of the monster and was badly injured, the monster grabbed the man and squeezed him in his hand which killed him instantly and made blood burst out.

The vision faded away and Lucy went back to normal, "Ay, what's the problem Luce?" Happy asked. "Do you mean Lucy?" Wendy asked. "No, you can abbreviate their name if you want to," Happy said. "Um, it's nothing, just a small headache," Lucy explained. "Alright, since that's nothing we need to worry about, moving on!" Happy shouted. Rycu observed Lucy and sensed something wasn't quite right, she was looking down to the floor with a sad expression on her face and she was gripping her right arm at the wrist with her left.

"We need to find the others and help them, the more numbers we have against one of them means the more chance of success we have," Wendy explained. "Most likely they're in combat so we need to avoid getting into a fight otherwise we'll all be in trouble knowing the power of these pests," Carla explained. "The thing that's caught my mind the most though is who on Earth would have sent the information?" Rycu asked.

"That would be our doing," Said a voice as they stepped out from the trees, everyone soon realised it was Flace with Sunjlie right behind him. "Of course it was you, who else would have guessed?" Rycu moaned. "No need for such sarcasm, we just want to take you all down quickly," Flace said. "I'm honestly surprised you fell for the bait, now that little girl and those two cats can be added on to our kill list," Sunjlie said.

"Like I'm let you get to any of them," Rycu said as he stuck his arm out in front of them. "You're way too over protective you know," Sunjlie moaned. "Happy, go find Natsu and help him out in any way you can," Rycu ordered. "Aye sir!" Happy shouted as he flew off. Sunjlie aimed a shot of light at Happy but just before she shot a burst of fire hit her and caused her to miss her target. "Thanks Rycu!" Happy shouted from the distance.

Sunjlie looked back at Rycu with a furious look on her face, "You ignorant pest! I'll kill you when we're finished with you I swear!" Sunjlie shouted. "Your fight is with us so leave Happy be," Rycu said. "You fool, now you've gone and made me madder!" Flace shouted as he had darkness floating in and out of his body.

Carla switched into her human form and had her fist ready, "Wait! Since when could you change into a human!?" Lucy asked in confusion. "I can learn magic as well," Carla responded. "Fair enough," Lucy said as she pulled out Leo's zodiac key. "Ready to fight?" Flace asked.

"Let's get this started."


	83. What you deserve

Lucy summoned Leo and he stood next to Rycu with his glowing fists, "Do you have a strategy planned out?" Leo whispered to Rycu. "Unfortunately I don't but what I can say is don't let your guard down," Rycu whispered. "You've gone and made me all excited! I hope you deliver to my expectations!" Sunjlie shouted as she jumped towards Rycu with white glowing fists.

Rycu raised his guard and Sunjlie's fist collided with them, Leo prepared a punch but Flace rushed over and punched Leo in the face with a dark fist which stopped him from using his attack. Lucy's whip wrapped around Flace's arm and she pulled on it to launch him towards her and Wendy. Wendy rushed up and shouted, "Sky dragon wing attack!" Two gusts of wind were sent out and it made Flace blast back.

Sunjlie grabbed both of Rycu's arms and spread them apart so she had a clear view of his head. Sunjlie leaned back then pushed her head forward to head-butt Rycu, Rycu grabbed his head as he fell back and almost fell over. Sunjlie ran up to Rycu again but he managed to snap back and catch her fist. Rycu then kicked Sunjlie's right leg so she fell down onto her knee.

Rycu kicked her in the face which made her fall onto her back and he jumped up high to slam down. Sunjlie managed to roll out of the way then stand back up on her feet. Sunjlie spread her right arm out and a shining white chain appeared in her hand. "Accept your fate!" Sunjlie shouted as she swung the chain forward. Rycu grabbed the end of the chain and was pulling on it as strong as he could.

Rycu stopped pulling on the chain and let go of it but it was still attached to him, when Rycu turned his hand over he looked at his palm, the chain was inside of his arm. Rycu looked up in confusion, "What the hell is this?" "You clearly aren't familiar with my magic!" Sunjlie shouted as a shock of energy was released through his body, "But I know yours like the back of my hand!" Sunjlie shouted as Rycu fell onto his knees in agony since there was like an explosion inside of his body.

Carla punched against Flace's chest but he hardly noticed she attacked, Flace looked at Carla and laughed hysterically. Carla rapidly punched as hard as she could but he didn't feel a thing, Flace grabbed her arm as she swung for another punched and threw her aside. Lucy forgot about her zodiac key and put it back in her pocket. Lucy pulled out her whip again but it was flowing with light magic energy.

Lucy swung the whip at Flace but once again it appeared to have no effect on him, "You really think because I use dark magic, light magic would critically damage me?" Flace asked. "It was worth shot at least," Lucy whispered. Flace stuck his hand in the ground and the area surrounding him, the ground turned black and the grass in the area died. Lucy looked in shock and confusion, she had no idea as of what to do.

There was a blast of darkness in the area that Lucy was standing in and it caused her temporary pain that kept on getting worse and worse the longer it lasted. Lucy fell onto her knees and was gripping her arms and legs while shaking to try and ease off the pain, Lucy leg out a scream of pain and Flace laughed in satisfaction. Flace grabbed Lucy's arm and threw her into Rycu who was also in excruciating pain. They both were defenceless and could only rely on Wendy.

Wendy seemed infuriated, "You leave them alone!" Wendy shouted as she let out a strong roar of wind but Sunjlie and Flace could just walk through it. They both grabbed one of Wendy's arms and smashed her into the floor along with the other, "Weak small girl, don't know why you try," Sunjlie wondered.

Rycu tried to push himself up just to collapse, "How can one attack…do this much to me?" Rycu wondered. "Who should be take out first, that humanoid cat, the girl with the keys or that young one?" Flace asked. "I say that annoying one," Sunjlie said as she pointed towards Lucy. "Oh yeah, the one who's all full of herself, this seems like a good start," Flace said as something began charging within him.

Rycu stared at Lucy who was laying on the floor right by him, curled up in a ball and trying to withstand the pain. Black volts of electricity shot out of Flace's hand and was directed towards Lucy. Rycu dived over Lucy who was laying on the floor, Rycu was hit with the electricity head-on and it immediately caused excruciating pain to him, both Flace and Sunjlie looked in shock. "You fool! What are you doing? You deserve this for your foolishness!" Flace shouted.

Rycu let out cries of pain, his bones felt like they were becoming thin as paper and he was receiving pain that felt like being crushed by a mountain multiple time. Sunjlie aimed her hand towards Rycu and it began charging up with magic, with no warning a sphere of a light ball of energy was launched out and it hit Rycu directly in the chest and he was blasted back.

"Rycu!" Lucy shouted as she looked up from the floor, trying to withstand the pain. Rycu was completely unconscious and was badly beaten. Lucy stood up and she was completely infuriated, "Wendy, Carla, you help Rycu and make sure he's ok," Lucy ordered. "What about you?" Wendy shouted. "I'll handle these by myself," Lucy responded.

Wendy crawled over to Rycu's body and gently shook it to see if he was ok, "Rycu, are you with us?" Wendy asked but he laid their motionless. "Doesn't look good, get to work on healing him quick!" Carla hurried. "Yeah, I'll um…get started," Wendy said as she started to heal his damaged body. Lucy could hear their panicking voices behind her and it just made her madder as she clenched her fist, "You jerks, I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" Lucy shouted.

Happy was soaring through the skies and could hear all the horrible things behind him happening all at once. "Doesn't seem to be going well," Happy thought nervously. Happy looked far ahead and could see two bright flames, "That must be Natsu!" Happy cheered as he sped up until he was getting closer to the destination. As Happy got closer he made out the figure of yet another person but what surprised him was how he was wielding fire too.

"Another fire user?" Happy thought as he was now over the heads of them. Suddenly Happy had been wrapped around a flaming whip and was tugged down to the floor. Happy was smashed against the floor before being pulled up into the air by Friero, "What's this? Did you really try and send a spy to try and take me out or is this little cat just at the wrong place at the wrong time?" Friero asked.

"Happy?! Why are you here?" Natsu asked in confusion. "It's a long story so I'll tell you after now can you please just free me from the creep!?" Happy shouted. "Calm down cat. I wish they sent Lily instead of you," Gajeel whispered. "Hey! He's the best cat out of the three!" Natsu stated. "Oh really? He can't even fight!" Gajeel shouted.

Happy just watched as they got into a heated argument about who had the better cat. Friero was just amazed from how much they argued, "Are they always like this?" Friero asked happy. "Pretty much," Happy answered. "Well Lily has swords that can change size!" Gajeel continued. "He can't change into a person like Carla!" Natsu shouted. "Oh yeah and what's Happy's special power eh?" Gajeel asked. "I don't know but when we find out his special power, he'll be able to wipe the floor with Lily and Carla!" Natsu shouted back.

"Will you two just quit it!" Friero shouted as smashed his whip on the floor to get their attention. Natsu and Gajeel glared at Friero and then remembered what they were supposed to be doing. "Hey! Let go of Happy!" Natsu demanded. "Like I would do that," Friero said as he tightened the whip which was wrapped around Happy. "Natsu help! It hurts so much!" Happy begged.

"I told you let go of my cat!" Natsu shouted as he leaped over to Friero and aimed his fist at his face. Friero effortlessly caught Natsu fist with one hand and slowly began to squeeze it. As Natsu's fist was slowly being crushed, Gajeel rushed over to try and attack but was knocked away by the whip. Gajeel put his fingers in the floor as he slid along to slow himself down before looking up to Friero who had a smile on his face.

"Wipe that stupid smile off of your stupid face!" Gajeel shouted as he let out a giant roar. As the roar pushed them back, Natsu manage to free his fist and punch Friero across the face which loosened the grip he had on Happy and freed him. "You ok Happy?" Natsu asked. "I'm fine, don't worry about me," Happy said as he spread out his wings and floated in the air.

"Right then," Natsu said as he lit a flame in his fist. "Let's crush him!"


	84. The Fire Mage (UPDATE)

_**(Hi, I know it has been a while since I have posted a chapter, it's not that I was busy or anything, I just didn't have the motivation to write something and I have been thinking about where the story is heading. I decided to split the whole story into four separate ones. This is the first of the four, Fairy Tail-The ultimate dragon slayer, the second will be called Fairy Tail-The demon hunt, the third will be called Fairy Tail-The corruption and the finale will be called Fairy Tail-The devourer of the Gods. I spent a lot of time planning them out and I have a whole word document about what will happen in each story. Just wanted to share this information and I hope you enjoy this chapter!)**_

 _ **P.s-I'm renaming Weelo to Sky, I'm pretty sure you could guess why ;)**_

Friero launched his whip forward and it wrapped around Natsu's right arm, Friero pulled it back which sent Natsu his way. "Not this time!" Natsu shouted as he kicked Friero in the face. "Hmm, you're learning pretty fast aren't you?" Friero said as he smiled at Natsu who looked serious. "Isn't there room for any fun?" Friero asked as he launched at Natsu with a flaming fist in hand.

Gajeel stepped in front of Natsu and punched against Friero's fist, "Don't worry, we'll have fun crushing you!" Gajeel shouted as he pushed forward and knocked Friero back. "Maybe you aren't as dumb as you look iron head," Friero mumbled. "Don't underestimate me punk," Gajeel whispered.

A flaming whip wrapped around Gajeel's arm, "Shame such determination and power goes to waste in someone like you," Friero whispered as he knocked Gajeel into Natsu and Happy, knocking them all on the floor in a great pile of bodies. "Watch what you're doing!" Natsu shouted into Gajeel's ear who had fallen in front of him. Natsu burst out of the pile and rolled his eyes at Friero who seemed to be enjoying it.

"Alright, lets fight fair and square!" Natsu shouted as Gajeel pulled himself up and Happy attached himself onto Natsu's back. "But why play fair when you can have more fun cheating?" Friero asked as the fiery whip he had in his hand disappeared and his fist began to spark with fire. Natsu gritted his teeth and lit a flame around his fist, Gajeel went on his toes ready to pounce.

Both sides launched at each other, Friero slid underneath Natsu and Gajeel who were both airborne, as he slid past he grabbed Gajeel's leg and slammed him into the floor. Natsu turned around, he and Friero kicked each other in the chest simultaneously, pushing them both back. Fire flooded out of Friero and it took the shape of a flaming sword. It was fairly large and the tip of it aimed directly at Natsu.

A blast of fire shot out of it and it was aimed directly at Natsu, he tried to eat the fire to power himself up some more but he split it straight out and clawed his tongue, "What is that stuff? I can't eat it," Natsu asked. "All I'll say is, it's not your normal fire," Friero responded. The sword sliced at Natsu be he rolled out of its path and jumped at it, Natsu punched the sword but his hand went straight through it. The sword was raised high above the air and came crashing down, the concrete beneath gave way and sent all the concrete surrounding it blasting up in the air.

Happy made his wings appear and he flew Natsu high up in the air, Friero looked up at Natsu, "Why don't you come down and fight?" Friero asked. "Don't worry, I will!" Natsu shouted as he dived down directly at Friero, Friero jumped up into the air and collided with Natsu's fist, they pushed against each other and fire surrounded both of them. A giant explosion blasted them apart from each other and they landed back on the floor.

"Interesting," Friero mumbled. "That not got enough for ya?" Natsu sighed. "Get it together Natsu!" Happy shouted. "You are far weaker than I would of expected, I predicted I'd at least have a challenging fight," Friero sighed. "Let's see if this is good enough for you then!" Gajeel shouted as he charged at Friero and punched him straight across the face. Friero didn't even get knocked off the floor, he just slid backwards a bit, leaving a visible trail in the floor.

"That do anything and he caught him off-guard!" Happy shouted. "This isn't going to go well," Natsu whispered. Friero made his giant fire sword appear once again, it began to slowly spin around him but gradually picked up speed, "What's happening?" Gajeel asked as Friero just stood there. "I don't know but keep your guard up!" Happy shouted. The fiery sword span so fast that it made Friero no longer visible.

There was a sudden bright red light and Happy shouted, "Look out!" Happy dived and picked up Gajeel as he already had a hold of Natsu, he flew the up as high as he could before the attack struck. There was a red wave of energy that was sent out and it was followed by a fierce wave of fire that hit them. Happy fell to the floor, dropping Natsu and Gajeel on the floor.

"Natsu," Happy moaned. "What is it?" Natsu asked as he pulled himself up. Natsu looked over to Happy and saw that his wings were all burnt up and badly damaged so that only the root was left visable of them. Friero walked over to Happy and stomped on his body, "Stupid cat," Friero muttered as he kicked Happy over to Natsu. "Hey!" Natsu shouted as he picked Happy and shook him but he had passed out.

"Happy! Come on wake up!" Natsu shouted. Natsu felt Happy's wings that were almost non-existent. "Natsu! Is he ok?" Gajeel asked. "Yeah, he's fine," Natsu reassured. "Stop wasting my time," Friero complained. "Let's cut to the chase you worthless piece of shit, you're a real hassle for us and you're crossing the line completely. I'm going to make sure that you pay and I'll make sure that your death will be a long painful one, I'm going to wipe the floor with you and then you'll know the reason to why we always come out on top," Natsu threatened.

"Bringing out the fighting words are we?" Friero asked. "I'd take them to heart if I were you," Gajeel said. Natsu laid Happy's body down on the floor and had his back on Friero, "Let's do this," Natsu said bluntly. Friero smiled, "This'll be good." In an instant Friero had been blasted far back by a punch to the face. Gajeel slid Friero's body along the floor by extending his club and it tore out all the rubble beneath him.

Gajeel grabbed Natsu's hand and spun him around multiple times before letting go of him, Natsu was launched towards Friero and he kicked him in the face. Friero rose from the ground and he was leaning over and had fire sparking from him. "I WAS BORN WITH A POWER LIKE THIS!" Friero shouted as multiple poles of fire flew around him before launching in different directions, the fire went through the trees and lit them on fire, smoke flooded everywhere.

"I WAS BORN WITH THE POWER TO SHAPE FIRE!" Friero shouted. The fire poles flew away from the trees and bundled up together and began to shape something. Once the fire stopped shaping, a giant beast made completely of fire stood before Gajeel and Natsu. "I'M NOT WORTHLESS!" Friero shouted again. "Worthless?" Gajeel asked. "I'm not sure but…I think somethings happened in this guy's past that turned him to evil," Natsu explained.

The fire beast charged towards them at full speed, "You take Friero, I'll handle the beast!" Gajeel ordered. Natsu nodded and charged towards Friero. The collided fists and Natsu kicked Friero's knee which forced him to kneel. Natsu punched Friero in the face which knocked him back and he landed on his back. Gajeel whacked his club in the direction of the fire beast but it went straight through it, "Damnit, physical attacks are useless."

Friero and Natsu were constantly throwing punches at each other and both of them wouldn't stop. Natsu took a step back and sent out a ferocious dragon's roar but Friero walked through it effortlessly and punched Natsu onto the floor. "I'm…not…worthless…" Friero whispered. "What happened back then? What happened that made you turn to darkness?" Natsu asked. "That doesn't matter to you," Friero said as he stomped on Natsu's body.

The fire monster smashed Gajeel's body into the floor and held his body on the floor with its giant flaming floors. "Natsu! You've got to do something soon or we're dead meat!" Gajeel shouted. "It does matter! I understand how it feels! We all do!" Natsu shouted. "NO YOU DON'T!" Friero shouted as he punched Natsu in the face. Friero went to punch Natsu again but Natsu caught his fist and pulled himself up, "I know people who have had their families killed right before their eyes, their parents missing, I can guarantee people have had it worse than you!" Natsu shouted as he pushed Friero to the floor.

"You don't know what other people's lives are like! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND" Natsu shouted as he repeatedly punched Friero. The fire monster prepared to tear Gajeel to shreds. "Natsu!" Gajeel shouted. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Natsu shouted as he raised his flaming fist. The fire monster brought down its giant claws as Natsu brought down his fist.

Natsu's fist crashed against Friero, Gajeel closed his eyes and when he reopened them the fire monster had gone and Natsu was panting in front of Friero's body heavily. "Natsu?" Gajeel asked. Natsu put his hand in the air and Gajeel saw as the number ticked down once again from 7 to 6. Natsu stood up and dragged himself over to Happy's unconscious body, he picked him up and spoke, "Come on, let's find Rycu." Natsu and Gajeel headed in the last direction they saw any sign of Rycu.

Medusa wondered through the trees and looked at her hand, "Another one defeated?" Medusa chuckled, "They'll be dust by night."


	85. Running out of time

Medusa stared up at the bright beam of light in the sky, "Nomada shall arrive soon, death and destruction is nigh," Medusa spoke to herself. "Those brats will meet their inevitable end soon, if not, Nomada shall kill them all," Medusa smiled.

Medusa was accompanied by Sky who was determined to find Rycu like a cat stalking a mouse, "Where the hell did he run off to?" Sky asked impatiently. Medusa pointed north, "I can sense him over there but it seems as we were not the first ones to find him." Sky looked at her gloved hands and clenched them in a fist, "If he's not toast by the time I get to him, I'll finish him off in one hit with my bare hands."

"Although I don't doubt you could finish him in one hit, still be cautious of him, Jax rushed ahead of us and was finished off quite quickly I guess. And one of the others has seemed to be beaten as well so we clearly underestimated their full potential," Medusa explained. "We all know at this point that Jax and some of the other's power is inferior to ours so if they are strong, I'll still kill them all at once effortlessly," Sky explained.

Sky began to rush off in one direction and Medusa called behind her, "Just remember, bring me back Rycu alive and all the other may perish!" Sky caught a glimpse of Medusa and smiled, "Their souls shall be a great sacrifice for _**the God of darkness**_."

"How long have we been walking?" Natsu moaned. "It's only been like ten minutes!" Gajeel shouted. "But my legs feel like they could be pulled off!" Natsu continued. "How about I pull them off for you then!" Gajeel shouted as he was pushing his head up against Natsu's and was continuously spitting all over his face. Natsu pushed Gajeel away and looked back up once again at the mesmerising beam of light.

Natsu looked closely and saw magic flowing out of it, "What the?" Natsu began before he was interrupted by the shaking of the ground. Natsu and Gajeel looked to the ground in shock and saw it was cracking with small pieces of rubble being flung out like water droplets being launched upwards from something crashing in the water.

"What the hell's going on?" Gajeel asked. They could feel a great force of magic energy rising close to them, enough to even raise their heartrate from how much flowed in and out of them. They could also hear some sort of cracking noise, they looked towards the rift and it was getting even larger than what it was before, the area it covered extended by three times the size and it carried unimaginable amounts of magic.

That was not all, there was a loud deathly roar that sounded very demonic and there were giant noises of crashing feet that could be heard. "I hope that isn't what I think it is," Natsu whispered to himself. The crashing feet seemed to get louder and louder, it was clear that it was coming from the light.

With no warning a giant, hairy, monstrous hand reached out of the light, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Natsu shouted in shock. "That must be the demon! We're running out of time fast so let's get a move on!" Gajeel shouted as he dragged Natsu behind him as he ran through the trees. The new area that the beam of light was covering devoured everything even close to it, it was sucked in and most likely would never be seen again.

Various trees and rocks were sucked in to the beam of light, "Look!" Natsu shouted as he pointed to two bodies being sucked into the light. "What?" Gajeel asked as he dragged Natsu along. "That's Friero and Jax being sucked into the light!" Natsu shouted as he tried to speak over the heavy wind that pounded against them and filled their ears with noise.

"Wait! What's that going to do to them?" Gajeel asked. "I don't know but they've been dealt with so that doesn't matter. We got to find Rycu and then take out the other dark wizards!" Natsu explained. "And then take care of that thing!" Gajeel added as he pointed to the demon's hand and dodged out the way of a few trees as Natsu ran head fist into one.

"That hurt," Natsu squealed as he slowly stepped around the tree and continued to run with Gajeel. The demon let out a giant roar from inside the light, it was impossible to tell whether it was in anger or in pain.

Lucy looked at the giant demon hand and was speechless, "Wh-wh-what is that!?" Lucy asked. Flace smiled, "The demon's resurrection draws close." Wendy was occupied with healing Rycu but she was off put by the demon and couldn't fully concentrate, "We're running out of time! You have to get Rycu sorted quickly before any of this can get worse!" Carla explained.

"Hey! You've got to get Rycu fixed up!" Lucy shouted as she noticed Wendy had been put off concentrating on Rycu entirely. "Sorry!" Wendy shouted as she continued to heal Rycu as best as she possibly could. The heavy wind made Lucy's hair fly backwards and she had her back turned to Sunjlie and Flace.

Sunjlie grabbed Lucy's blond hair and held it all together in one hand, she slammed Lucy into the floor multiple times before sliding her body across the floor. Lucy pulled herself up and gripped her right arm as blood flowed down it and dripped to the floor. "So you want to pull cheap shots then?" Lucy asked as she let go of her arm and a handful of blood dropped to the floor.

Lucy clenched her fist and had tens of bruises on her body, "But I'll fight through the pain just like everyone else did to protect me!" Lucy shouted as she pulled out Scorpio's key which had blood dripping over it. Scorpio appeared in front of Lucy with a smile on his face. "You ok Lucy? You aint looking too good to me," Scorpio asked. "Yeah I'm fine. You know what to do!" Lucy exclaimed. "I'm on it Lucy!" Scorpio shouted.

Carla flew over to Lucy and wrapped a bandage around the part of the arm which had been bleeding before. "This should be good enough for now while Wendy heals Rycu," Carla spoke. "Thanks," Lucy smiled as she wrapped another bandage that Carla had given her around her arm which stopped the blood from flowing down her arm.

Scorpio was immediately knocked to the floor with one effortless punch from Flace, "Weak," is all Flace said. Lucy swung her whip at Sunjlie but it missed and she grabbed Lucy's wrist. Sunjlie pulled Lucy towards her and whispered into her ear, "Give up," Sunjlie whispered. "I'd never give up!" Lucy shouted as she pushed Sunjlie off of her, she wrapped her leather whip around Sunjlie's arm and smashed her into Flace. "Maybe she does have potential," Flace thought.

Erza held her sword firm facing opposite Dusk who seemed to be getting some amusement out of the fight. "What is so funny about this battle?" Jura asked. "It's not the battle so much, it's just how close we finally are to our victory," Dusk explained as he laughed hysterically for no reason. "What do you mean?" Erza asked.

Erza then could feel the heavy winds begin to grow stronger, she turned around to see the monstrous hand sticking out of the light, "That couldn't be…" Erza whispered. "What is the matter?" Jura asked. Jura turned around as well to see the demon taking form at last, "We don't have much time left now, we'll have to take them all out as fast as we can do that means…" "We have to take Dusk out now," Erza finished off Jura's sentence.

"Ohhhh, we actually are going to start our fight now? I'm actually excited, you've got my blood pumping at an even faster rate!" Dusk exclaimed. "You are completely mad!" Jura shouted. "I'm mad now am I? Never really realised people thought of me that way but then again, why should I care when I'm the one who would be ending their lives on the spot, no matter how small or large they are, they all serve the same purpose to me and that would most likely never change." "What?" Erza asked."

"THEIR ONLY PURPOSE IS TO BE CRUSHED BY ME SO THEY CAN SEE WHO TRULY IS THEIR GOD!"


	86. The Darkness Spreads

_**As a starter I would like to greatly apologise for the extreme wait for another chapter, it's been over a month at this point. I had many issues with my computer and even now I am writing this chapter on my sisters, I hope I can fix my computer soon so I will be able to upload more frequently. Also I would like to mention a new story I will be starting after a few more Fairy Tail chapters, I will be writing a Persona 5 story since I beat the game and I enjoyed it so much I'd like to base a story off of it. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for the patience between this chapter and the last.**_

Lucy panted heavily as she faced opposite of Sunjlie and Flace, "Care to give in yet?" Sunjlie asked as she held her hand out pointing towards Lucy. "It's no use, I can't heal Rycu in a place like this!" Wendy exclaimed. "Why not?" Carla asked. Wendy looked towards the giant golden ray of light that was so distant from them, "I need to be towards that light, Rycu's injuries are severe and at the rate his injuries are getting worse, I won't be able to heal him in time."

"What will getting closer to that thing do though?" Carla asked. "Well, if I can get close enough to it, since there is so much magic energy circulating around and inside of it, if we get close enough, the energy will flow in us as well which means I'll have enough magic energy to heal him quickly," Wendy exclaimed.

"I see, but what are we going to do then? You can't get there fast enough on your own so I'll have to fly you but then Lucy will be on her own and she's already weak," Carla explained. "It seems your friends are having their own conversation, I wonder if it would be a good idea to dispose of them quickly?" Flace smiled. "You leave them out of this!" Lucy shouted, "This is my fight!"

"You're starting to bore me," Sunjlie moaned, "I think it's time to end you once and for all!" Multiple light spheres shot out of Sunjlie's hand and they all split off in different directions, each one moved far away before they circulated back around, directed towards Lucy. Each one hit her one after another and she let out cries of pain, "Lucy!" Wendy shouted as she lost attention to Rycu.

Lucy dropped onto her knees with her hands pressing against the floor, "I…can….t," Lucy panted. Flace took small, slow steps towards Lucy until he stook directly before her, "Allow me to put you out of your misery," Flace said. Lucy looked up to him but was immediately met with a dark vision as Flace stomped once on her head. "NOO!" Wendy and Carla shouted. Sunjlie frowned, "It seems that didn't do the trick," Sunjlie spoke as she saw her chest slowly pushing in and out.

"Then this should do the trick!" Flace shouted as he raised a fist with a black aura around it. "Stop!" Carla shouted but Flace didn't even acknowledge what she had said. Flace brought his fist down with a grin on his face. As fast as light, something past by everyone and Flace was blasted far back and his feet skid along the floor, "What was that?" Wendy thought.

Before anyone even realised, a man stood before them which Wendy and Carla recognised immediately. "Jellal?" Wendy said in shock. The man turned around and indeed it was Jellal, "Get Lucy and Rycu out of here, make sure they're safe and heal them, we can't lose them," Jellal explained. "Wait! This doesn't make any sense! How come you're back to normal once again and more importantly, why are you here?" Wendy asked. "Leave and I'll explain later when everyone reuntites," Jellal explained.

"But-" Wendy began. "Just do what he says! He'll have time to explain himself later, let him handle Sunjlie and Flace," Carla said has she flew over and picked up Lucy. "How will you carry us all?" Wendy asked as she grabbed Rycu. "Don't worry, I can do it, as long as I have you believing in me," Carla smiled. Wendy smiled back.

"Quickly," Jellal said again. "I'm on it!" Carla shouted as her wings stretched out further and they shined bright. Carla grabbed Wendy who was holding Rycu so she had a hold of Rycu. Carla slowly but steadily flew up until she was at a good hight, "Are you good?" Wendy asked. "I'm fine," Carla reassured, "I might not be able to get us all the way though, I can get us half way at the least."

Jellal watched until they were out of sight and he then turned around to face Sunjlie and Flace. "I don't really know who you are, but if you helped them escape, then I can tell you're gonna be a thorn in my side unless I get rid of you now," Flace said as he clenched his fist. Jellal smiled, "Give me all that you have."

Natsu and Gajeel rushed through the trees as fast as they could, breaking a few branches off trees along the way, "Are we getting closer?" Natsu asked. Gajeel looked up at the sky, "We're getting closer," Gajeel said. Natsu smiled, "I'm sure everyone will be coming here so we can team back up," Nastu explained. "Won't that mean Medusa and that will end up here as well?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah but Rycu will be there soon probably and when he's there we can all team together and take them down!" Natsu explained. "Hold on, so your plan is based on look pretty much?" Gajeel asked. "Well….yeah," Natsu explained. "How dumb can you be?!" Gajeel shouted. "Just shut up, everything will be fine iron head," Natsu sighed. "It won't be if we're not careful! What if they're there waiting for us there!?" Gajeel asked.

Natsu had a blank look on his face and stopped running, Gajeel sighed, "Is that brain of yours just for show!" They both paused in position and looked forward, what was before them was a giant golden ray of light which could blind them. "I…can feel all the magic flowing through me," Natsu spoke. "This is unreal…" Gajeel whispered.

Natsu and Gajeel both took a few small gentle steps towards the light until they were within a few meters of it, they could even see some magic energy floating around it. Natsu took another step forward and reached his hand out to it. Just as he was about to touch it there was a giant cracking noise, Natsu pulled his hand back and looked around in shock.

The once beautiful bright golden beam began to change, it started off with a strike of black across it, it quickly began to spread though until it was completely black. That was not all though, it also slowly began to grow a dark, cloudy layer around it. "What on Earth's happening?" Gajeel asked. "I don't know, but I'll think we'll find out soon enough," Natsu said. The sky also began to darken, the bright sky quickly changed to pitch black.

"Natsu!" Someone shouted. Natsu and Gajeel looked behind them and saw Wendy and Carla, Wendy was carrying Lucy and Carla carried Rycu. "What happened?" Natsu asked. "They both got beat up pretty bad by Sunjlie and Flace," Wendy explained as she and Carla laid Lucy and Rycu on the floor. "Damn those two traitors!" Natsu shouted as he punched the floor.

Wendy quickly started to heal Rycu first as she could feel herself being replenished of her magic energy. "This should be good for them as well, it will fill them with magic energy which will help them recover faster," Wendy explained. "This isn't looking good for us," Gajeel sighed. "Things aren't that bad you know, we've managed to take down two of them anyway," Natsu said.

"But two of ours have been taken down as well," Gajeel said as he glanced towards Rycu and Lucy. "Right, Rycu should be fine now, he won't wake up for while though," Wendy explained as she stood up and started to work on Lucy next. After a while Wendy had finished with Lucy as well, "Lucy won't be awake for a while as well," Wendy stated.

Natsu looked up again at the black beam of light surrounded by the dark clouds, "What's happening with this thing?" Natsu asked. "I don't even know myself, but what I do know is that we can't stay here for long, by this point the other dark wizards will be nearby but it would also but good to know what's happening with this thing," Wendy said.

"Allow me to explain it to you," said a voice as it stepped out from the shadowed trees. "Sky?" Natsu asked as he took a few steps back. "What the hell's going on here!?" Gajeel demanded. Sky smiled.

"To put it in short, the darkness is spreading."


	87. Sky

_**Hi everyone, as there have been a lack of chapters, I'm going to try to upload 2/3 chapters to make up for it, this is the second so there might be a third make tomorrow from when this chapter is uploaded.**_

"The darkness is…spreading?" Wendy asked. Sky nodded, "This just shows how far the darkness has spread since the demons revival, it's not long now until it will be among us." "Damit all you say is probably a load of crap anyways!" Natsu shouted. "That does not matter, you can believe what you want but you'll find out soon enough anyway," Sky grinned.

"No because we're going to stop this and beat the crap out of you!" Gajeel stated. "That's a bolt statement isn't it? I know only a few of you can stand up to the power of mine but I doubt it'll be strong enough to take me down," Sky chuckled. "Don't start to be getting cocky!" Natsu shouted as he sprung towards Sky at full speed.

"I don't have time for fools like you, you know what I want so just give it to me," Sky moaned as she grabbed Natsu's fist with her gloved hand and smashed him through the floor. "Like in hell I'd give him to you!" Wendy shouted as Carla attached to her back and lifted her up, "Sky dragon wing attack!" Two strong wind slices launched out at Sky, she just smiled. Sky's magic floating hands suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere, Sky simply dodged Wendy's attack as her magic hands sent forward.

One magic hand send out multiple green orbs that were directed at Wendy and Carla, Wendy tried to push them away with gusts of wind but she couldn't. Each orb smashed against Wendy and Carla's body as if they were falling rocks, "Sorry…Wendy," Carla uttered as she dropped Wendy back to the floor and fell with her. "Carla are you ok?" Wendy asked as she picked her up. "I'm…perfectly…fine," Carla reassured.

"Hm, pathetic," Sky sighed as she took a few steps towards Rycu's body before Gajeel stepped out in front of her. "So you want a shot now? Do I have to waste more of my time with pathetic losers like you?" Sky moaned. "I won't give in when a friend is on the line," Gajeel stated. "I don't see why you should worry about him, he's much better off on his own than you or even better with us," Sky smiled.

"You really irritate me you know that," Gajeel grinned. "Out of my way," Sky ordered as she clenched a fist. "Never!" Gajeel shouted as he punched towards Sky. Sky stood still and smiled, before Gajeel's punch landed he was hit from behind by another one of those green orbs, Gajeel stumbled forward and immediately was knocked back by Sky punching him directly in the face.

"All right I'm ready for round two!" Natsu shouted. "I'm starting to get irritated by you lot now," Sky spoke as one of her magic hands appeared again. The magic hand shined green and suddenly a weird shield appeared around Carla, Wendy, Gajeel and Natsu which didn't let them move. "What the?" Natsu thought as he pushed against the shield. Sky smiled as she took small steps towards Rycu until she was directly in front of him.

"Stop!" Wendy shouted as she punched against the shield. Sky stood in front of Rycu's body and looked down at him, "You've caused many problems for me in trying to find you, you know." "This isn't good, if she gets Rycu then who knows what they'll be able to do like turn him against us, it's happened before," Gajeel thought.

"I think it's time I take Rycu, these shields will stay up on their own so don't worry, I'll be back for you lot after," Sky explained. As Sky was about reach for Rycu, him arm moved and pushed against the floor, "There's no need for you to worry, I'm not leaving with you of all people." "What?" Sky thought as she took a small step back. Rycu looked up and grinned as he prepared to attack.

Rycu suddenly leaped forward and punched Sky across the face which make her feet slide across the floor, "Rycu!" Wendy shouted in joy. "And here I was thinking I wouldn't have to waste anymore time and get this over with. Then again, I guess I can have fun beating the ever loving crap out of you," Sky smiled. "Since I've just recovered, I'm not really in the best shape to fight," Rycu thought, "I have to escape but I also can't leave the others or Sky will most likely kill them. So what do I do?"

Rycu glanced at the two shields and the magic hand, "So the magic hand is controlling the shields so if I destroy the hand, the shields should vanish," Rycu thought. "What? Are you drifting off into space?" Sky asked. "No, but I just had an idea," Rycu said. "Care to let me in on the secret?" Sky chuckled. "Sorry…but the point is…I'm bringing you down!" Rycu shouted as he charged at Sky.

Sky was ready to defend herself so she raised her guard, Rycu ran straight past her though, he spotted the hand that was powering the shields and rushed for it, "What's he doing?" Sky thought. By the time Sky realised what Rycu was doing, it was too late to stop him. Rycu had a flaming fist in hand and he stood by the green magical hand with a grin on his face. Sky clenched her fist in anger, "Damn you Rycu!" Rycu punched the green hand and it broke into thousands of pieces like glass.

The shields around everyone else disappeared and they could move freely again, "Nice job Rycu!" Natsu grinned. "All right then, time to take out the trash," Gajeel said as he put his fist in hand. "Are you ok Rycu?" Wendy asked, "It looks like some of your injuries aren't fully healed." "I'm fine," Rycu answered. "Let's see how you get out of this situation Sky," Rycu wondered.

"Let's take her down Rycu!" Natsu shouted. Just as Natsu was about to charge forward and attack Rycu stuck his arm out in front of him to stop him. "What?" Natsu asked. "Go and find the others, I'll handle Sky," Rycu commanded. "Are you mad, I'm not going! We're all together so we'll be able to take her down, don't you realise how strong she is?!" Natsu shouted. "Rycu, you're the one she wants!" Wendy exclaimed.

Before they could even argue for longer, the wind started picking up, "Rycu! What's happening!?" Gajeel asked. Rycu was being dragged forward towards the light, "Rycu!" Wendy shouted as she grabbed onto Rycu's arm but he kept being dragged forward. "This is interesting, to think it would be attracted to such a power of Rycu's," Sky thought.

"Just go! I'll be fine!" Rycu shouted. Rycu looked over to Lucy's body and she was being dragged in as well, "Lucy!" Natsu shouted. Natsu rushed towards to try and grab Lucy but Sky stepped in front of him and punched him back, "You! You know what's going on don't you!" Natsu shouted. "I do, but I'll never give you the information. Why don't you listen to Rycu and flee away like little rabbits?" Sky responded. "I'll kill you!" Natsu shouted as he pounced towards Sky, by now Lucy and Rycu were far out of sight.

Sky effortlessly dodged out the way of Natsu and grabbed his arm as he flew past. Sky smashed him against the floor are grabbed each of his arms, Sky pinned Natsu against the floor. More of Sky's magical hands appeared and they were attacking Wendy and Gajeel, "What are these things? And how are they so strong!?" Gajeel asked. "I…don't…know," Wendy responded, she quickly let out a cry of pain as she dropped to the floor, "Wendy!" Gajeel shouted.

"Natsu we have to get out of her as fast as we can!" Gajeel shouted. Gajeel picked up Wendy, "Carla get her out of here!" Carla nodded and flew Wendy away. Natsu struggled to push Sky off of him even though he was trying his best, "Go and flee," Sky chuckled as she stood up and kicked Natsu before walking away. "Where're you going!?" Natsu shouted. "I have bigger matters to deal with at the moment," Sky responded as she looked up at the black beam of light. "What? Maybe you're just too afraid of us!" Natsu shouted back.

Sky stopped moving and glanced behind her, "You just don't know when to shut up." Sky stretched her hand out directed towards Natsu and Gajeel. "Well done Natsu," Gajeel muttered. All Sky's magic hands appeared around in a circle, they circulated around quickly until you could see a bright light in the centre of the circle. "We have to run Natsu!" Gajeel shouted.

"There's no escaping this," Sky muttered. A giant laser blasted out of the circle and it hit both Natsu and Gajeel. They both let out cries of pain and they both collapsed onto the floor. "Lu…..cy," Natsu whispered as his vision faded to black. Sky began to walk away.

"You shall know of the suffering that was burdened upon me."


	88. The Magic Horn

_**All right everyone, after this chapter I will go back to a steady pace of uploads, these three rapid chapters as you know where to make up for the long lack of uploads. Also, after this chapter, I might start my Persona 5 story, so when it's out I hope you can check it out and enjoy it. Remember, a review is always helpful. Anyway I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the fight!**_

Gray looked around in awe, "I can't even keep up with what's happening anymore." "All you need to know is that the end of your whole existence is nigh, once Nomada can pull through the gate, he will wreak havoc and utterly destroy you all," Tusk grinned. "I can't believe how confidant you are that this abomination will even accept your orders and treat you as its master," Leon sighed.

"It's just something dumb nuts like you wouldn't understand at all, since we resurrected the demon, it shall obey our orders as without us, it wouldn't be here to cause great destruction," Tusk explained. "That's way too far-fetched, what do you plan on doing if it doesn't obey your dumb commands then?" Gray asked. "Well we'll simply be able to make our escape and it will still obliterate everything in its path," Tusk stated.

"Hold up! So you're saying that no matter what, this thing's going to utterly destroy everything!?" Leon said in shock. Tusk smiled, "Unfortunately you won't survive long enough with me to witness the beautiful chaos that is Nomada." "You're completely out of your god damn mind!" Gray shouted. Tusk held his magical horn in his hand and it glowed bright which stood out greatly among the darkness which now surrounded them.

"Let's have a little bit of fun why don't we? I'd like to see how long of a beating you'll be able to take from me until I can see your lifeless bodies fall," Tusk smiled. "There truly is no saving the likes of you…" Leon sighed. "I don't need saving! My soul is as pure as yours!" Tusk shouted in rage. "Pure!? That's blaspheme!" Gray shouted. "Cmon Gray, we'll show this freak our true strength!" Leon shouted as he charged at Tusk side by side with Gray.

Gray and Leon had a light blue aura around their fists, "Ice blade!" Gray shouted as a sword completely made of ice appeared in his hand. "Ice make sword!" Leon shouted as well. Gray and Leon swiped each of their swords in the direction of Tusk which caused them to cross paths. Tusk jumped backwards out of the way of the swords, each sword crashed into each other and shattered into thousands of pieces.

"Oh come on, you didn't even plan where that attack would land you idiots!" Tusk chuckled. Gray gritted his teeth, "He's really gonna try his best to annoy us," Gray sighed. "Just concentrate and this'll be over with soon," Leon whispered back. "Well, since you've already got the chance to attack, it would only seem fair if I got a turn as well," Tusk shrugged. Tusk's horn shined bright still amongst the darkness, Tusk moved his lips against the horn and took a deep breath. Tusk then let out a giant blow against the horn and a horrid sound was given out, Gray and Leon grabbed their ears as they felt like they were bleeding.

"Got ya!" Tusk shouted as he leaped forward, "How does my horn sound?" Tusk asked as he Grabbed Gray by his head before smashing him against Leon. "What…is that," Gray thought as he stumbled back to his feet and his ears finally felt like they were getting better. "We'll definitely have to watch out for that," Leon whispered to Gray as he stumbled back to his feet as well. "We can't let him use that dumb horn," Gray whispered back.

Gray charged at Tusk again, "Ice make hammer!" A giant ice hammer appeared behind Gray, "Ice is pathetically weak!" Tusk shouted as he stretched his arms out to take the hit. The hammer smashed forward at Tusk and knocked him back, "Guh! That actually hurt me?" Tusk though. "Yeah, ice may be weak on its own, but when you train with it for many years it becomes a lethal weapon," Gray stated.

"But that's not the only thing ice can do! Ice make tiger!" Leon shouted. "What on Earth is that?!" Tusk shouted in shock as a tiger make completely of ice appeared in front of him and it was even moving like it had its own life. "Ice maker magic has more potential than what you could ever imagine!" Gray shouted as he stood on top of the giant ice tiger that Leon had made. The ice tiger charged towards Tusk at full speed, the ice tiger pounced on top of Tusk, its shiny blue teeth inches away from his face.

The tiger opened its jaw wide but as it closed there was a sudden, "SMASH!" Leon looked forward and the tiger had shattered into an unimaginable amount of pieces. Tusk stood up back on his two feet then started to laugh uncontrollably, "Heh, yeah Gray, you were right when you said that ice has potential I never fathomed but you're not the people to prove that to me!"

Tusk picked up his horn and prepared to blow into it again, "Stop him Gray!" Leon shouted. "I'm on it!" Gray shouted as he aimed at Tusk. "Ice make bow and arrow!" Gray shouted. An ice bow and arrow appeared in Gray's hands and it fired off an ice arrow directed at Tusk. The arrow fired into Tusk's hand which caused him to drop the horn onto the floor, "Damn you," Tusk muttered.

"Leon you're up now!" Gray shouted. Leon smiled as he charged forwards towards Tusk, Tusk tried to reach for his horn but Leon quickly stopped him by kicking him back again. As Tusk stumbled back, Leon seized this opportunity and grabbed the horn before backing off from Tusk again. "Hey! Give that back!" Tusk shouted.

"Let's see how you fair without your precious horn!" Gray shouted back as he smashed it against the floor and watched it with satisfaction as broke into pieces. "This shouldn't get too bad now that he doesn't have that special magic horn of his," Leon whispered. "I HATE YOU FOOLS, I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU ALL DIE BY MY HANDS!" Tusk shouted completely enraged.

Tusk eyes lit up red and it looked as if some blue fire grew around him, "You're not going to like me when I'm angry," Tusk murmured. "What the? It looks like he's getting stronger!" Leon exclaimed. "Maybe destroying that horn wasn't the best idea," Gray thought. Tusk let out a cry of anger and he began to change, his muscles, though they were very unnoticeable, began to grow larger and the pieces of the horn that had been broken apart all had a dark aura that appeared around them and the pieces floated over to Tusk where they reassembled.

"Dammit he's getting that stupid horn back!" Gray shouted. "All your efforts will be for naught, the demon is guaranteed to make it through the gate and one it does there's no possible way you can send it back, all you can do is try to kill it but…to be honest, that's near impossible for everyone but the gods," Tusk explained as the horn finished reassembling. The horn he wielded now was much different though, it was much larger and it had engravings on it which were impossible to read because it looked as if the engravings were very old so some of it would be very hard to see.

Tusk held the horn in front of him, "Who wants to die first?" "None of us are dying her today, we'll just have to beat some sense into that thick skull of yours!" Leon shouted as he charged at Tusk on his own. "Just like you say you ice has potential, this horn has unimaginable power, the only difference is, is that I have the power to prove it," Tusk whispered to himself.

As Leon got closer to Tusk he put his hand on the floor which completely turned it to ice, "Don't slip!" Gray shouted as he charged towards Tusk and kicked him to try and make him slip on the ice but it didn't even make him move a muscle. "How the?" Leon thought. Before they had time to think about it move though, Tusk interrupted.

"My turn," Tusk whispered. Tusk once again moved his lips up to the very small opening on his horn and blew, "Cover your ears!" Gray shouted as he and Leon both put their hands over them, "That won't help you, you fools," Tusk grinned. Tusk blew with little effort but the damage caused was catastrophic, the sound that came out was horrid and even managed to damage the surroundings, the floor around them was clearly cracked and it had even managed to bring up some rubble onto the what had once been pleasant surface.

Both Gray and Leon still grabbed their heads in pain still, "How the hell are we supposed to win?" Leon asked. "That's the point!" Tusk shouted, "You don't win!" "There has to be some way to bring him down, as a starter we have to get rid of that horn for good," Gray explained. "And how are we supposed to do that?" Leon asked. "I don't know yet, but keep attacking with all you got," Gray said. Gray and Leon both nodded their head before charging at Tusk, "Give me all that you have!" Tusk shouted.

"Ice make blades!" Gray shouted. "Ice make python!" Leon shouted. Gray had two crystal looking objects on his arm while Leon had made a living snake completely out of ice that slithered by him. "Ice make hammer!" Leon shouted and a giant ice hammer appeared beside him. Tusk still held his grin, "This should be fun."

Gray sliced his ice blades straight across Tusk's chest but it did minimal damage to him, Tusk brought his fist down at Gray but he managed to dodge out of the way of it, as Tusk was open, Gray sliced his blades at Tusk's arm as well. Gray had left a giant slice down Tusk's arm and a bit of blood slowly slithered down. The python bit into Tusk's leg and left a few marks in it, Tusk let out another cry of pain and tried to kick the snake but it slithered out the way.

The snake slithered around Tusk's legs and held them tightly together, "Gotcha!" Leon shouted as he kicked Tusk which made him fall to the floor on his back. Leon floated the ice hammer above Tusk's chest, "This'll finish you off!" The Ice hammer was brought down to Tusk's chest and smashed against it with so much force. As the hammer smashed against Tusk it shattered and Tusk seemed as if he was perfectly fine, "Pathetic," he muttered.

The ice snake that had wrapped around Tusk's legs was seemingly effortless to break apart, Tusk didn't even seem bothered anymore about it. "Why don't I show you true magic?" Tusk grinned once again. Tusk had his horn in hand and put it to his lips, "Not this again!" Gray panicked. Instead of straight away blowing, the horn began to charge up, "That attack will kill us if don't find a way to stop or defend ourselves from it," Leon explained.

Gray tried to rush up to Tusk and attack but there was some sort of shield protecting him, "We can't stop it!" Gray exclaimed as he pushed up against the shield. "Then we'll have to defend ourselves," Leon said. Gray and Leon went back to back and both shouted, "Ice make shield!" A seemingly strong shield appeared around them that was in the shape of a dome. "All we can do is hope now," Leon thought.

Tusk blew on the horn with all that he had and it caused great damage. The shield Gray and Leon made shattered and they were faced with the attack, trees had been pulled from their roots, the calming green grass ruined. Gray and Leon fell onto the floor in pain as Tusk stepped towards them, "I actually thought you had the potential to pose a challenging fight, it seems I had too high of expectations," Tusk chuckled before aggressively kicking Gray's body across the floor.

"You're wrong, I could see the excitement of a fight within you, the desperation to win, you just say all that crap to look all high and mighty compared to us all. You're like glass, I can see right through you, I can see the truth. I know what's on the line so that's why I'm not losing this fight, not yet," Leone panted. "How arrogant of you, you should know when to just give it up," Tusk sighed.

"You know, he's not wrong, I can see through you as well, deep down I know you're afraid. Afraid to lose a fight, afraid of the punishment. Well, at least you find out what happens today," Gray spoke. "You speak such nonsense!" Tusk shouted. "Ice make sword!" Gray shouted. "Ice make hammer!" Leon shouted. Before Tusk could turn around to face Leon he was smashed towards Gray using the ice hammer. "IT'S OVER FOR YOU!" Gray shouted as he sliced at Tusk's body diagonally with his ice sword.

Tusk let out a cry of pain before his body collapsed to the floor, "I…lose?" Gray let out a sigh of relief as he checked his arm to see then number tick down once again from 6 to 5. "So we've taken down three already?" Gray thought. "Let's get a move on," Leon smiled, "We still have a while to go."

Medusa smashed her foot on the floor in frustration, "They've taken out three? How can this be?" Medusa looked ups at the dark beam and couldn't help but laugh.

"You shall feel my wrath Rycu."


	89. Back At The Guild

"What's wrong master?" Mira asked as she noticed Makarov getting lost far in his thoughts. Everyone else had stayed at the guild hall and were still acting like their normal selves, Cana was washing herself away in a sea of alcohol, Juvia cried endlessly mourning over Gray's departure to the mission.

"Who wants to challenge me to a drinking battle!" Cana shouted, completely taken over by the alcohol's affects and smashed her giant tub against the floor. "Why does nobody want to challenge me!" Cana shouted as she smashed her tub again against the floor, "What? Are you all just chicken or something?!" Everyone just stared at Cana and didn't dare speak a word to her.

"Jeeze Juvia! Don't need to get so upset, he'll be back in a couple of days at most!" Jet shouted over the endless water that appeared to rise up to Juvia's ankles. "But my life is miserable without him! I won't be able to live on much longer if he's not there to motivate me!" Juvia sobbed. "Don't you think you're overreacting much?" Droid asked. "My tears are never enough," Juvia cried.

"So how much did you earn this month?" Wakaba asked. "You tell me first," Macao demanded. "No, you tell me!" Wakaba shouted. "Fine…" Macao sighed, "I hit the bottom of the barrel this month, I only earned fifty thousand jewel." "Ha!" Wakaba shouted as he slammed his piece of paper onto the bench, "I earned two hundred and fifty thousand jewel this month!" "What kind of stupid jobs have you been taking!?" Macao asked. "Jobs too advanced for you!" Wakaba grinned. "Oh yeah? Let's go on one of them then!" Macao demanded. "That's fine by me, just don't let me catch you slacking!"

"It seems the guild hall is just as crazy as ever," Jet sighed. "Even without Natsu, Gray, Erza and all of them, it's still just as mad as ever," Droid said. "How long do you actually think until everyone else gets back? Laxus and Gildarts are apparently on the journey back but with Natsu's group we haven't heard a thing from the master," Jet asked. "You don't think that things aren't going well with them?" Droid asked. "Well this is Natsu we're on about here, he'll cause chaos wherever he goes," Jet sighed. "Rycu can't be much better, whenever there's an opponent in his way, he's certainly not afraid to go all out on, think of all the destruction he'll cause when he gets serious," Droid imagined. Jet and Droid shivered, "Remind me to never challenge Rycu to a fight," Jet gulped.

"Master, what's wrong?" Mira asked again. Makarov looked down to the floor and sighed, "I've finally received intel on that Nomada problem." "That's great then, we've been left in the dark with that for a while," Mira smiled. "So, what have you found out?" Mira asked. "Come with me," Makarov ordered as he jumped off of his stool and walked upstairs with Mira walking behind him.

Makarov stood outside of a room that had a padlock on it, it was clear the padlock hadn't been changed for a while as it looked rusty and not very useable. Makarov stuck a key into the giant rusty padlock and slowly began to turn it, they key stopped turning halfway through though. Makarov fiddled around with it but then eventually just tore it off and threw it aside. "That needed replacing anyway," Makarov sighed.

Makarov pushed the door open and it was pitch black, as they walked inside, a circle of candles were suddenly lit which gave a clear view of the room. At the centre of it though was a lacrima, this lacrima was one that would allow you to see other people who also have one. "Master can you please tell me now what information you were meaning to tell me?" Mira asked. The lacrima in the centre of the room suddenly lighted up blue and a hologram of someone appeared but it was hard to make out who they were because they were in a shadowed area.

"Yes, I'm sure you know of the dark wizards that have been trying to resurrect the powerful demon Nomada?" Asked the shadow figure. Mira nodded, "Well, we've received an update to the situation and things apparently aren't looking so good," the shadow figure continued. "So what is this update? And who exactly are you?" Mira asked. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realise you couldn't see me, sorry for being so gloomy," the shadow figure stepped forward into the light and became visible.

"Master Bob?" Mira asked. "That's right, I'm the master of the Blue Pegasus guild. Back onto topic, I got a signal off of Ichiya, I gave him a lacrima before he left and it appears he's now in contact." Bob explained the hologram which showed Bob was suddenly split in half and Ichiya appeared on the other half of the hologram. "Ichiya, so what's your current situation just to recap for Mira," Makarov asked. "Right, so, the gate that has been sealing this demon away has been broken and it's partway through the gate already, there is no way to stop the demon from coming through the gate, our only options now are to kill the demon or send it back through the gate," Ichiya explained.

"That's horrible," Mira thought. "How many of those dark wizards are there?" Mira asked. "There are seven of them in total but we've already taken down three. Me and Rycu took out one called Jax, it was a true team effort," Ichiya smiled. "Of all people to team up with, Rycu would have Ichiya, that's a combination I'd never imagine," Mira thought. "Two others have been taken out as well, from what Hibiki and Eve found out, it's possible that their leader Medusa, a sand mage called Dusk, a light wizard called Sunjlie, a dark wizard called Flace and Medusa's right-hand person called Sky are all remaining to take out," Ichiya explained.

"But weren't Sunjlie and Flace supposed to be part of Featherstone? They're supposed to be our allies!" Makarov shouted in shock. "I know, but to us now they're our enemy," Ichiya sighed. "How are our allies?" Bob asked. "To me it seemed as Rycu was injured but Eve helped him, with all these dark wizards though, there's a high likelihood that he's got himself injured again, Natsu and Gajeel have been causing giant explosions and I have had no information on anyone else other than Lucy who seems to be fine from what I know.

"What are we going to do about that demon though once it passes through that gate?" Mira asked. "There is not a way that we know to seal the demon back, the only thing we can do is erase it," Bob explained. "And how do we do that?" Mira asked again. Makarov looked down at the floor, unsure of any possible ways, "There is only one way that I can think of, we fire at it with the magic council's cannon."

"That thing? Are you sure Makarov, it could take it out but It'll take our allies out with it if they don't escape in time," Bob said anxiously. "I'll notify the magic council of the situation, Ichiya, try and find everyone else and notify them of the plan but you'll need to try and hold the demon back for now," Makarov explained. "I'm on it, men," Ichiya agreed as his hologram disappeared. "I'll contact you later on Makorov and I'll notify you if Ichiya reports anything else," Bob explained as his hologram disappeared.

"Makarov, don't you think the canon is too far? No matter how far they run, the canon will still hit them some way or another," Mira said. "It's a risk I'll have to take," Makarov said as he turned away from Mira. "Master you could kill them!" Mira shouted. "Mira, go downstairs and look after everyone for a while, I'll be contacting the Magic council." Makarov ordered. Mira turned around and walked out, slamming the doors behind her shut, "I understand you're worried about them Mira but this is the only way to save everyone," Makarov thought.

Mira walked back downstairs and went back behind the bar, "Hey something wrong Mira?" Levy asked as she walked up to the bar. "Well we have intel on that mission Natsu's group went on," Mira began. "Well, what did you find out?" Levy interrupted. "The group of dark wizards have managed to free the demon, the only way apparently is to kill it. Master wants to use that cannon that the magic council have to kill the demon but it will kill everyone on the mission if they don't escape," Mira explained. "So why don't they just evacuate?" Levy asked. "They need to at least hold back the demon for a while but then still, they won't have time to escape," Mira sighed.

"Is there no other way of killing it?" Levy asked. "Of course there is, you can kill it any way but brute force alone won't do the job very well," Mira explained. "Here!" Levy exclaimed as she placed a book on the table, "I can look into this Nomada demon and see if I can find anything useful to take it down!" "Thanks, Ichiya has a lacrima apparently so if you find anything useful just tell master and he'll pass the information on," Mira smiled. Levy wondered off back to her table with her head in her book. Everyone continued to be noisy and chaotic as usual for a while until there was a large bang at the guilds doors.

"Guess who's back!" Someone shouted, as everyone looked towards the doors they recognised it as Laxus with Gildards standing just behind. "Hey, Laxus, how'd that mission go then?" Wakaba asked. "It was a piece of cake, especially when you have this guy with you," Laxus grinned as he pointed towards Gildards. "Just what I would expect," Macao grinned as well. "So are the others back yet?" Gildarts asked. "We haven't heard a peep from the master about it, you can go try and ask him yourself, he's upstairs," Jet said.

"Guess I will then," Laxus muttered as he climbed upstairs. Laxus went to the exact room that Makarov had taken Mira to before and entered. When he went inside Laxus saw Makarov was talking to the magic council, he didn't dare speak until Makarov ended the conversation and the lacrima shut off. Laxus had listened to the conversation and had got an idea of what was going on, "So that demon Natsu, Rycu and that got free and now you want to blast it with the cannon?" Laxus asked. Makarov nodded his head, "Hate to break it to you gramps but to me that doesn't sound like the perfect idea, you'll kill not only the demon but everyone there," Laxus explained.

"I've heard that off of Mira as well, I would probably hear it off of everyone else," Makarov sighed, "I understand your concern but I know what I'm doing her." "Let me and Gildarts go there then, or even just me, they've all been worn down we can help them and finish the fight!" Laxus exclaimed. "No Laxus!" Makarov shouted, "This is their fight so let them see it through to the end, I know they're capable of taking them down." "You seriously don't know a thing you old fool," Laxus muttered as he stormed out the room.

Everyone noticed Laxus storm out, "I'm guessing it wasn't the greatest news?" Gildarts asked. "What do you think?" Laxus asked. Laxus walked up to the guild doors, "Their lives are all in danger and the old fool is just putting them at a higher risk!" Gildarts stuck his arm out in front of Laxus, "I know Rycu and Natsu will be more than enough to take them down." Laxus looked down at the floor anxiously, "How can you be so sure?" "That's because I have faith in them," Gildarts grinned.

Rycu slowly opened his eye and observe his surroundings, everything around him was just white, it was a massive, open, empty landscape. Rycu leaned up gripping his head as it hurt.

"Now then, where on Earth am I?"


	90. The Depths Of Darkness

_**Just to let you all know, I might be uploading infrequently or not at all throughout the next two weeks since I'm going on holiday, I just wanted to share this information and I hope you can all be patient for the next chapter.**_

Everything around Rycu was just plain white, completely endless. "I'm stuck in here and everyone is out there fighting for their lives, I don't even know where I am right now," Rycu sighed. "Could this be inside the heart of the void? Its source of power? The heart of the demon?" Rycu thought. Many ideas ran through his head but they were all flushed out one after another. "Think Rycu for crying out loud!" Rycu shouted as he stomped his foot on the floor. "There has to be an answer."

Rycu looked around again but there was nothing to see, feel or hear, there was no light breeze to feel push gently against your skin, no tiny taps of your footsteps to here as you walked along. It was nothing. Rycu stomped his foot against the floor again but this time something happened, the floor beneath him cracked like glass before shattering into millions of pieces. Rycu was devoured by the hole, falling straight through where his vision once again faded into darkness.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked. Natsu's vision was mainly dark but slowly began to light up as the voice called to him. Natsu grabbed his head in pain, "What happened to me?" "It's alright, it's me, Eve, Hibiki and Ichiya!" Eve shouted. "I'm not death you know," Natsu sighed as he leaned up. "We just found you all beat up like this, do you know what happened?" Hibiki asked. "Man, that Sky girl is strong," Gajeel moaned as he leaned up gripping his head.

"Oh yeah, now I remember, Sky beat us up pretty badly. Rycu and Lu-…" Natsu paused mid-sentence. "What is it?" Eve asked. "Lucy!" Natsu shouted, "Rycu and Lucy got sucked up into that black light!" "They're in the heart of that thing?!" Ichiya asked. Gajeel and Natsu nodded, "That's why we have to find a way to get them out of there!" Natsu shouted. "Don't get so hasty! We have to think things through!" Eve shouted as Natsu stumbled towards the light.

"Natsu! Stop being stupid!" Gajeel shouted as he stumbled to his feet as well. Natsu leaned back and punched against the shield. Natsu's fist only pushed against the first layer of the light, it was like a shield, "Give it up already! That thing is impossible to get through!" Hibiki shouted. Natsu continued to push against it and let out cries of pain, the area Natsu was punching showed to be red and sparks came out of it. "I won't give up until I know both of them are safe! If Medusa and Sky think they can get away with this then they're wrong!" Natsu shouted.

There was a sudden blast and Natsu was knocked away from the shield, Natsu felt his fist and it was glowing red, "I won't stop yet!" Natsu charged at the light again but someone grabbed him before he reached it. Natsu looked back and saw Gajeel grabbing his arm, "What are you doing?" Natsu asked. "Give it up Natsu, the more time you wasted attacking the shield, the less likely we are to save them before the demon passes through the gate," Gajeel explained.

Natsu looked down at the floor anxiously, "Fine then, we'll do it your way," Natsu sighed. "Right then, we should leave this place and try to find some of the others to regroup with, we'll fix Natsu and Gajeel up once we find Wendy. Once that's done, we'll find a way to fix this mess," Ichiya explained. Everyone nodded, "Let us go now then men!" Ichiya shouted.

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and looked around her, just like how it was for Rycu, everything was an open empty landscape. "Where am I?" Lucy thought as she leaned up noticing she was all by herself, "Natsu? Rycu? Wendy? Anybody?" Lucy called but there was no response, all that could be heard was Lucy's voice as it faded away in the distance. "You know, this is kinda getting creepy," Lucy whispered to herself nervously as she stumbled to her feet and looked around.

"Is my vision deceiving me or something? Why is there literally nothing? I need answers!" Lucy thought. "How will I get out of here if I have no idea of where on Earth I am or what even happened? I was knocked unconscious by Sunjlie and Flace and now I've ended up here!? Something must have happened from when I was knocked out until now! None of this makes any sense to me!" Lucy shouted in frustration. Lucy managed to calm herself down and think things through, "Just calm down Lucy," she said to herself.

Lucy took a few steps forward, every time she took a step the floor cracked greatly, "What's happening?" All of a sudden, the floor shattered beneath her and she began falling down the endless abyss, "It's hard to concentrate though when so much madness happens at once!" Lucy shouted as she rapidly fell down the hole. Lucy could feel the bags under her eyes begin to grow heavy, "I'm feeling…so…sleepy," Lucy struggled to keep consciousness before she finally gave in and fell fast asleep.

"Hey! Are you ok?" Carla asked as she could see that Wendy was finally regaining consciousness. "Ugh, what happened to me?" Wendy asked as she leaned up gripping her head. "You were knocked out by that girl, Sky I believe was her name," Carla wondered. Wendy suddenly leaped up as a sudden thought crossed her mind, "Natsu and Gajeel!" Wendy shouted. "What about them?" Carla asked.

"They battled against Sky didn't they? What happened to them?" Wendy asked. "I honestly don't know, Gajeel told me to fly you out of there so I did as he told me to, I never saw what happened next. I'm sure they handled her anyways." Carla explained. "I'm not sure, last time I remember, she was handling all three of us without breaking a sweat," Wendy sighed. "We can't go back there if that's what you're thinking, we have to find some of the others first child," Carla explained.

"But what if Natsu and Gajeel were beaten?" Wendy asked. "If that's the case, she'll be one of our main priorities to take out, we have plenty that are capable of beating her, Erza, Gray, Natsu, Gajeel, you and Rycu so we must find them and plan out how we'll beat her," Carla said. "We saw Natsu, me and Gajeel all get squashed by her at the same time though, what makes you think we can take her down?" Wendy asked.

"Now that we've seen her magic though, I've figured out one key weakness of it," Carla continued. "And what's that?" Wendy wondered. "Since her magic is focused on her using those hands, that must mean that her physical attacks are weak, so if we managed to destroy all those hands that she has, she'll be practically defenceless!" Carla exclaimed.

Wendy thought about it for a while, "But what if she has powerful physical attacks, or is hiding more of her power from us?" Wendy asked. "All I can say is that we have a few people what specialise in that category," Carla gave a glimpse of a smile. "Hey, I'm hearing the voices from over her!" One man shouted. "Are you sure, I think they are coming from over her," Another man shouted. "What are you on about? It's clearly over here!" The other man shouted back.

"Do you think that could be some of the dark wizards?" Wendy whispered. "Possibly," Carla whispered back. "I don't recognise their voices so it has to be," Wendy whispered once again. An idea sprung into Carla's head. "Why not try and sneak attack them then make our escape?" Carla suggested. "Good idea! I'll get into position!" Wendy smiled. "See! I'm hearing them from over here!" The man shouted, "You bafoon, you should always listen to me, after all I am the superior of us," the man continued as he walked into Wendy's view along with his friend.

"Sky dragon roar!" Wendy shouted as she jumped out of hiding and blasted the two wizards along the floor with her breath attack. "I'm so, so sorry," Wendy apologised as she realised the two people she attacked were no other than Gray and Leon…blasting their clothes off in the process. "What the?" Leon thought. "Why!?" Gray shouted, "Just when I'm getting into the hand of not stripping on accident!"

"I'm so sorry," Wendy apologised again, "I didn't recognise those voices as she you." "WE'VE BEEN FRIENDS FOR THIS LONG AND YOU DON'T REMEMBER WHAT MY VOICE SOUNDS LIKE!?" Gray almost felt like fainting. Gray and Leon both started to put their clothes back on, "So what happened to you?" Leon asked, "You look like you're in a rough shape." "That girl, Sky, she beat me, Natsu and Gajeel up pretty badly and now I don't know where the other two are since I was knocked out and Carla had to get me out of there," Wendy explained.

"What about you? You two aren't in great shape either," Carla asked. "We managed to beat one of the wizards, he was called Tusk. He wasn't extremely powerful but for a guy with just a horn, he was above my expectations," Gray explained. "Anyway," Carla interrupted, "we need to find some of the others, Sky is extremely powerful so God knows how strong Medusa will be when we go up against her."

"Forget about her, our main target as of now is Sky, which reminds me, have you heard anything out of Erza?" Leon asked. "No, nor have I for Jura, they must be fighting someone but the question is who?" Carla asked. "Well, Gray and Leon have taken out Tusk, Natsu told me he took out Friero. When I met up with Lucy and Rycu, Lucy told be Rycu had taken out Jax and Jellal entered a fight with Sunjlie and Flace," Wendy explained.

"Wait, Jellal is here?" Gray asked. Wendy nodded, "I don't know what's happening with him but it seems as he's back on our side. He's so confusing, it's like someone is controlling him." Wendy thought on it some more but then put it aside as she thought it was a crazy speculation. "So that means we've only down three while most of us are injured, so Erza could be fighting Dusk, Medusa or Sky. We can easily rule out Sky and Medusa will be concentrating on the progression of that demon's revival. That means that she'll be fighting Dusk!" Carla exclaimed. "Way to go genius, we all couldn't figure that out," Gray said sarcastically.

"So we have an idea of who to luck out for," Leon said. "What's our plan of action though?" Wendy asked. "I say we go give Erza a helping hand, if we've heard nothing out of her then it can't be good," Gray suggested. "What about Natsu and Gajeel?" Leon asked. "They're perfectly capable of handling their selves," Gray said. "What and Erza isn't?" Carla asked. "Hey I didn't say that! I'm just thinking because she's the one who's in battle right now," Gray shouted. "So is Jellal," Carla grinned. "Shut your mouth! You're worse than Happy!" Gray shouted.

Wendy paused for a moment and a thought crossed her mind that worried her, "What's wrong?" Leon asked. "I just realised, Medusa isn't fighting us maybe because she's getting her minions to weaken us so she can beat us like a piece of cake," Wendy explained. "She'll make quick work of us if we don't keep ourselves in good condition," Leon thought.

"Anyway, we now know what we're doing so let's get a move on already!" Carla shouted. "Calm down a bit," Gray mumbled. "Alright, let's get going!" Gray shouted as he charged off to try and find where Erza was fighting. In the top of the trees though, a figure was watching them all as they hurried along in desperation to find their friend.

"I won't fight will I? Why don't I show you my power first hand then?"


	91. Abyss Break

"Rycu…Rycu…Rycu!" A voice called amongst the darkness. Rycu leaned up and he was in the same place he had been before. Rycu looked around and he couldn't see any sign of the voice that had been calling him. Rycu stood back up on his feet, thinking, "What happening here, and why is it happening?" He looked around and everything was as it was before, just a plain white landscape that stretched out infinitely. Rycu looked up above him and there was no sign of the crack that he had fallen through, not even the shattered pieces of the floor.

"This makes no flipping sense!" Rycu shouted in frustration, "There's no clue whatsoever of what happened or where I am." Rycu took beep breaths, all that he thought he should be bothered about at the moment is the location of Lucy. "Rycu!" A deep voice shouted. He looked around but there was no sign of anyone who was speaking. "Who are you!?" Rycu demanded. "You seem to be doing well Rycu, your power is already greater than my original expectations, well done," said the voice.

Rycu soon realised who the voice belonged to, "Acrilla…" Rycu whispered, "Where are you hiding?!" Rycu suddenly shouted. "Now then, let me show you a dragon's breath attack!" Acrilla shouted and Rycu could hear the attack and the destruction it caused. "I…don't get it, I can hear him…it's his voice from the past but not the present, "Rycu thought. "Now then Rycu, let me tell you a bit of advice on how to do a powerful breath attack. First of all you must build up as much magic energy as you can into your stomach, it circulates all around your body so try to direct the flow. Then you must release all the magic energy you have built up at once, then you will have a strong attack," Acrilla explained.

"Acrilla, I won't give in until the day I find you," Rycu whispered to himself. "Rycu!" Acrilla shouted again, "What do you think you're doing? You mustn't be interacting with such wizards as them, they are dangerous and you're putting yourself at risk. Look at yourself son! You were beaten so badly by just one of them, you're not ready for them." Rycu clenched his fist in anger and a tear slowly swelled up in Rycu's eye, "I'm sorry…Acrilla. I just want to see you again..." Acrilla's voice stopped and everything went silent for a while, "I think I finally understand…"

"Hey Wendy!" Gray shouted as Wendy flew above them and they continued to run, "Have you seen anything yet?" Wendy shook her head, "Nothing whatsoever, I'm not sure what's happened to them but last time I remember there were signs of fighting at the eastern side of the forest which is where we're heading now!" They all continued to run along but they were greeted with a dead end, a giant part of a cliff blocked their path. "Dead end, we'll have to find another way around then," Leon explained.

"Wendy, you fly ahead with Carla and we'll make our way around then meet up once we find the others," Gray explained. Wendy nodded her head and Carla flew her above into the skies, over all the cliffs and mountain peaks. "Gray, do you think they'll be fine on their own?" Leon asked. "Don't get me started, they're a capable bunch," Gray grinned as he started walking again. "You say they'll be fine on their own but what about you then?" Asked a voice.

"Who goes there?" Leon asked. "Why it's me, Medusa, have you already forgotten what I sounded like," she giggled. "Stop hiding from us then and come fight us!" Gray shouted. "You're a tad bit ambitious, aren't you? Or are you just that desperate for me to knock some sense into you," Medusa questioned. "Cut it with the cocky attitude already! We'll be the ones knocking some sense into you if you don't stop that damn demon!" Gray shouted.

Medusa grinned, "I've certainly heard quite a bit about you Gray Fullbuster and of course your friend Leon who trained under Ur with you as I have heard. Why Ur was an astonishing wizard, I saw her with my own two eyes and I was amazed with how much she could do with a useless material such as ice." "Hey! How do you know about Ur!?" Leon demanded. "Oh my, back when I was younger she was the only person everyone was talking about, some idiots even called her the second strongest wizard coming after that partly dragon woman Eileen. I obviously had to prove everyone that I was the heir to that title so I beat her senseless and while I was in my prime I even managed to train under Eileen for a while. You know it is such a shame, she honestly had potential but a brat like her who trained little fools like you deserved to die like she did!" Medusa shouted psychotically.

"How dare you talk down on Ur like that! You're just a pathetic dark wizard, Ur could destroy you anytime, anywhere! I don't even know why Eileen would have even considered training you!" Gray shouted in rage. "Have I hit a nerve on you? Eileen and I were both dark wizards and once I showed her how capable I was, she trained me until I was at my peek! Eileen as you know was defeated by her son, Rycu, I pity her in a way, to think she'd be taken down by her child. Since Rycu is here though, if I defeat him, it will mean I have certainly surpassed Eileen which will give me the title of ' _The strongest female wizard',_ once Rycu comes out of hiding from me, I'm certain Sky at the least will be able to bring Rycu back to me. I'll allow him to recover which I will then defeat him and claim my newfound title." Medusa explained.

"Is that all your doing this for? Earning a title that you don't deserve? Killing possibly thousands of innocent lives for now reason? Bringing a demon back this destructive just to lure Rycu here just to fight him? Do you realise how crazy that is? I can guarantee you that Rycu won't allow you to take Eileen's title and I'm sure you're not even strong enough to take him on!" Gray shouted again. Medusa stopped smiling, "I've had enough of you now, Rycu is nothing to me, that's why I want him, he's a useful tool to me. And the demon is my main goal, surpassing Eileen was just a dish on the side." "Gray, stay careful, she dangerous," Leon whispered.

"I don't care! We can take her on together!" Gray said with confidence. Medusa just stood there as Gray swung a fist at her. "Take this you jerk!" Gray shouted as he swung at Medusa. Gray tracked his fist as it drew closer to Medusa but she still didn't do anything. Gray's fist continued to swing toward Medusa but just went straight through her. The momentum of Gray's fist went fast which caused him to land head first in the floor. "Attack me all you like but you'll never be able to hit me," Medusa grinned.

"Ice make Lion!" Leon shouted as his great ice lion formed in front of him and charged forward to Medusa. "Not even your magic will be able to hit me," Medusa explained as the lion ran straight through her and crashed into Gray which caused him to be hit forward and shatter the lion. Gray let out a cry of pain and looked up to Medusa. "Maybe I won't even need to do anything to beat you two, but then again, I guess it's always fun to have your turn," Medusa chuckled. "Our attacks are useless, how are we supposed to beat her then?" Gray thought.

"Now that I've seen your magic a little, I guess it's time to show you mine," Medusa said. Medusa suddenly appeared high above with a cheeky grin on her face. She held her hand out and it glowed golden, she flew around in the blink of an eye and before they knew it, a giant shining light appeared above Gray and Leon. They both look in shock, "That…that's a magic circle," Leon barely spat the words out of his mouth. "It's…Abyss Break," Gray whispered, "How did she mange to cast it that big so easily?"

The giant magic circle shined bright until it was as unbearable as the sun to look at, "May your souls rest in peace," Medusa muttered. The circle shone as bright as it could and there was a sudden blast, the magic circle let out a giant explosion and disappeared slowly as it faded away. The whole area around and Gray and Leon was struck and blasted it all. The explosion left a giant streaming crater with Gray and Leon lying barely conscious in the centre of it. "How…is she so strong…" Leon whispered.

"I guess that's all it took, I have to be honest I'm disappointed that attack managed to finish you in one go but I am surprised you lived if you took it so badly," Medusa said as she took small steps towards Gray and Leon's bodies. "Now, I must hop off before Rycu tries to make more distance from me. Before I do go though…" Medusa began as she leaned down to Gray and cupped his face in her right hand, "Gray dear…look me in the eyes…."

Erza grabbed her right arm as it slowly dripped with blood, "Damn it, I haven't landed a single hit on him, his body is completely made of sand so I can't even hit him once," Erza thought. "Having a little bit of trouble?" Dusk asked, "I'd be happy to end this sooner if you're in great pain." Jura make a stone summon from beneath Dusk but Dusks body turned into sand and split in half as the stone raised, you could see each half of his body made of sand on each half of the stone. "If you're having this much trouble against me, I'd hate to see you up against Medusa!" Dusk laughed hysterically.

Erza switched to her Fire empress armour, "I'm running seriously low on magic energy, I have to try and get myself and Jura out of here, I don't have enough physical or magical strength right now to beat him but I need to at least find out how I can hurt him." "Nothing'll work against me, you've tried almost every armour in your collection I believe," Dusk sighed. "No I haven't, I've still got more I can try!" Erza said aloud. "I haven't tried the seduction armour yet, but that's just for me in my spare time," Erza thought.

Erza swung at Dusk with her flaming sword, "I told you it aint-" Dusk was cut off as Erza's flaming sword sliced into Dusk and sent him rolling across the floor. "That…hit me?" Dusk though. "Finally," Erza grinned, "I think I found his weakness." Erza rushed to swipe her sword again at Dusk but she was suddenly blasted across the floor by a fist that was made up of millions of pieces of sand and dropped her sword. The giant hand picked up Erza's flaming sword and tossed it over to Dusk. "No more tricks," Dusk said as he held Erza's blade in front of himself.

"I've…...reached….my limit…" Erza thought as she grabbed her arm again as it continued to bleed whilst she laid against the floor. The giant sand hand split up into four smaller sand hands, each one grabbed one of Erza's arms or legs and pinned them against the floor. Jura tried to rush over to help Erza but he was instantly punched by another giant hand that was made out of sand that made his body slide across the floor in agony, "Erza…hold…on" Jura whispered.

"Well what do we have here? A pathetic Fairy loser idiot that doesn't know where they belong!" Dusk shouted as he stomped on Erza's pinned body an she let out a scream of pain. "You could of just let us have Rycu but you had to interfere and get us in a bigger mess than what we was in before!" Dusk shouted agin as he stomped on Erza's body multiple times, make it more and more bruised each time it was hit. Erza continuously let out cries of pain and seemed like a never-ending pain, each time Jura tried to pull himself up, he was immediately knocked back down.

"Alright, I've had fun with you and now it's timr to end it off with the finale," Dusk grinned as he held Erza's flaming sword above her chest. Dusk stabbed Erza straight in the chest with the sword and she let out one last cry of pain before she coughed up a small amount of blood. "You're pathetic Erza, just like your magic, being the daughter of Eileen and being this weak, I'm disappointed in you," Dusk sighed as he turned around. "I…don't care," Erza barely spit the words out. Dusk glanced at Erza, "Think whatever you want of me, but you're not the person I'm meant to impress. I shouldn't have to impress you, it's pathetic, all you have to know is if I'll beat you or not," Erza explained.

Dusk turned back around and faced Erza's body which was still laying on the floor with Dusk's hands still holding her down. "The best thing is…" Erza began and the sword in her chest slowly began to wiggle out of Erza's chest on it's own before it finally broke free and more blood squirted out her chest. "I don't need my own to hands to fight, I have telekinetic powers!" Erza finished as her flaming sword sliced at Dusk and hit him again straight across the chest.

Dusk skidded back on his two feet with a giant cut across his chest. "Why you!" Dusk shouted as he grabbed the sword while it was in the air and destroyed it with his bare hand which made start to bleed. Dusk kneeled down on top of Erza and punched her across the face once, "You deserve all the pain you get!" Dusk shouted as he repeatedly punched Erza in the face. Dusk was completely enraged, her wrapped his hands around Erza's neck and pushed with all his force against it.

Erza struggled for air, she was pinned to the floor and was already badly beaten. Erza kept trying to move but the sandy hands were pressing even harder now and made her only able to make small unnoticeable movements. Erza's vision rapidly began to black out, she could barely even her Jura shout, "Erza!" In desperation to try and help but there was nothing he could do, nothing in his power.

That's when…the ground began to shake once again.


	92. One More Stage

Dusk startled from the sudden shake of the ground and released his hands from around Erza's fragile neck. "What perfect timing for you," Dusk muttered. The ground beneath them began to glow bright and slowly started to shake more and more. Erza stabbed her sword into the ground and pulled herself up to look what was happening now, "This is the second time that the grounds started to shake, but it seems as this time that light isn't changing," Erza thought.

Erza looked at the ground and notice it was greatly different, the green, grassy floor was quickly spreading to a jet-black colour and weird black stone blocks with light blue lines on them grew from the floor and were scattered around. "What's happening?" Jura asked. "This is the next stage for the demon's revival, this the dark grass is the darkness spreading, and these dark blocks are chunks of the darkness compressed together to take form of an object. The only thing left now is for the demon to pass through the gate at last," Dusk explained.

Erza pulled herself up with her sword and pointed the tip of it at dusk, "That demon will be stopped, as will you." "I'm honestly amazed that you still have the strength to stand," Dusk grinned. "I'm not finished with you, one stab through the chest is far from enough to put me down, I'm honestly feeling quite energised. Now that I know your weakness I'll finish you with ease," Erza grinned.

"I wish we could finish our little fight now but Medusa will be expecting me now. I can't afford to waste any more time on you, otherwise, Medusa will surely be pleased. Medusa is the strongest out of all of us, anyone who would oppose her will be flattened under her strength," Dusk explained. "So, you just plan on using her to defend you? How cowardly!" Erza exclaimed. "Oh, I don't need Medusa to protect me, I'm quite capable of protecting myself, it's just all part of the plan," Dusk explained as his body started to disappear by breaking down into sand.

"Wait!" Erza shouted, "Come back here, I'm not finished with you just yet!" "You're finished with me, and I'm not finished with you. I hope that are paths cross once again so we can finish what we have begun," Dusk grinned. Within a matter of seconds Dusk had already disappeared, out of sight from everyone. Erza dropped her sword and fell down to her knees with her hand over her chest where the sword stabbed through. Erza looked at the palm of her hand and it was drenched with her own blood, she could lightly feel the blood pouring down her body and coughing up small amounts of blood every so often.

"Are you alright Erza? Jura asked as he managed to pull himself up but was clearly badly injured with bruises and marks all around his body. "I'm fine Jura, they're only minor injuries," Erza reassured, "How are you?" Jura stood up and brushed some sand off of his body, "I'm fine as well," Jura sighed as he down at the floor. "Something wrong?" Erza asked. "I'm a failure of a wizard, I never did a thing that fight, all I did was watch as he hurt you," Jura said in sorrow.

"Don't dwell on the fight," Erza said, "It wasn't your fault, just forget about it and move on. For now, we should focus on finding everyone else." Jura looked at the number on her hand, "The rest of them have taken out three of the dark wizards, so we're bound to find some of them, from there we'll be able to assess the situation," Jura explained. "Let's get moving then," Erza ordered as she and Jura set off to find the others.

"What's happening now?" Gajeel asked as he looked to the changing scenery. "It could be another stage of the demon's revival," Hibiki suggested, "It's what was happening last time the ground was shaking this ferociously. Natsu looked at the stone chunks as they rose from the ground, "That means we're running out of time," Natsu said as everyone glanced at him. "We can't be this quickly, I though this demon passing through the gate would of took much longer," Eve thought.

"If that demon passes through the gate, that means that most likely the gate will close and that means they'll be stuck wherever they are, I'm not letting that happen so we've got to find a way to get them back out in time!" Natsu explained. "There's nothing we can do from out here though, only Rycu and Lucy can get themselves out that thing and for all we know they could be dead!" Hibiki exclaimed. "How could you say that?" Natsu shouted as he rushed at Hibiki with a flaming fist, Gajeel grabbed Natsu arm as he charged, "calm down Natsu."

Natsu tried to edge closer to Hibiki, "Every time we've been in a situation like this! Where it seems like it's game over for us! We never gave up and we manage to pull through. Just because the odds are stacked against us once again doesn't mean I'll ever lose hope! I know they're alive in there and I know they'll make it out!" Natsu shouted. Hibiki had sweat pouring all down his face. Natsu stopped trying to pounce at Hibiki and turned around, "With all the noise I've made I bet I've alerted some of them, let's get moving now and find out how to stop this demon." Natsu began to walk off and everyone followed behind him.

Jellal observed the new scenery, "I have a brief idea of what's happening, I was told by the magic council that Nomada is being released by the work of these dark wizards. The original goal was to stop it being released but it seems as that was a failure. The new goal should be to stop the dark wizards and then find a way to stop the demon when it's released eventually. I have no idea what's happening now though, is this to do with the demon's resurrection?" Jella thought.

"So, it seems as the final stage before the demon's resurrection has finally begun," Sunjlie chuckled, "The resurrections completion is nigh." "What exactly is this demon? Just yet another creation from the book of Zeref?" Jellal asked. "This demon is from the book of Zeref, it was made to be one of his strongest but we all know the title of that belongs to E.N.D, his ultimate creation. The demon would be the strongest but something strange happened during its creation. As the demon was unleashed from the book, it came out distorted, it had many different forms and its power was unstable, it couldn't even control itself. Zeref ultimately rejected the demon and its power grew at an irregular rate. It went on to destroy countless cities and was eventually sealed away into an object called, 'The Orochi'." Flace explained.

"And where is this object?" Jellal asked. Sunjlie pointed towards the black light, "In the very centre of the light." Jellal looked at the cloudy sky and could see as it slowly began to darken to jet-black. "Even if you tried to seal it back into the object with the help of the magic council…your efforts would be useless. The Orochi has sealed away the demon for over a century, as soon as it would be released, the Orochi will be useless since all its power has been used sealing it away in the first place," Flace explained.

Sunjlie turned around and began to run off, "I'm afraid we'll have to cut our friendly chart short actually, Medusa will be expecting us shortly so there's no time to waste. "I'm not done with you!" Jellal shouted as he rushed after Sunjlie and Flace. "You should learn when to stand down!" Sunjlie shouted as she jumped into the air and turned around to face Jellal, "Heavenly light rays!" Sunjlie shouted. Three rays of bright light shot out at Jellal, all of them were directed at Jellal and hit faster than he could blink. The attack smashed right next to Jellal and made him roll over to the right to dodge the other attacks next to it.

Jellal spung himself forward again so he was back on their tail, Sunjlie resumed to run forward but Flace turned around to attack next. "If I don't try something risky, they slowly keep pushing me back more and more," Jellal thought. A thought suddenly crossed his mind and as he sprinted along he was debating to himself if he should do it or not, "No, it's the only way I can get them," Jellal decided as Flace still charged his devastating attack. Jellal suddenly stopped running and stood still while he watched Sunjlie and Flace rush away.

"What's he doing? He can't just be letting us get away," Sunjlie muttered. Flace kept rushing while still holding back his attack. "What are you doing? Fire your attack while his vulnerable!" Sunjlie shouted at Flace. Flace locked down the aim of his attack and shouted, "Dark laser blaster!" A giant black laser beam shot out of Flace's hands and moved around on its own until it was locked onto Jellal.

Jellal bent his knees and shouted, "Meteor!" His body dashed across the air and all that could be seen was a yellow light with a yellow line trailing behind it. Jellal moved fast than the eye could see and pieced straight through the black laser beam, Flace realised his error, "He let us go further away…so when he used meteor, it'd have further to travel which would give him more speed…and make it a stronger attack."

Jellal blasted out the edge of the black laser and his body had a black aura around it, "He absorbed part of the magic?" Jellal speared straight into Flace's stomach head-first and knocked him to the floor but Sunjlie still continued to run along. "Sunjlie, I'll handle him fine, just tell Medusa I'm getting a little caught up with this loser!" Flace called. "I'm sure you'll be able to handle him on your own," Sunjlie grinned. Sunjlie went out of sight and Jellal knew there'd be no catching up to her now.

Flace kicked Jellal in the chest to push him off which made Jellal airborne but he could still control himself fine. "I'll have to deal with you quickly then!" Flace shouted as he boosted towards Jellal. "Dark fist!" Flace shouted as he punched him straight across the face which blasted him to the floor. "I don't want Medusa getting even more mad with me! I bet she's already pissed that I let Rycu and some of the others get away already so I won't let another one slip by me so easily."

"I wasn't planning on just simply going by you anyway, I'm bringing you down," Jellal said. "Trust me, you'll be begging me for mercy soon enough," Flace grinned, "I'll just be counting the matter of minutes it takes to split you apart." "I'll be counting myself. Now, prepare yourself for a beatdown," Jellal threatened. Jellal sprung at Flace with his first ready to attack. "Dark shield." Flace muttered and a black looking forcefield appeared around him. Jellal punched against it but as his fist went though it suddenly got stuck half way.

"Dark fist!" Flace shouted again and punched Jellal which knocked him to the floor again as his hand was suddenly released. Flace sprung at Jellal again and kicked him across the face and stamped on his body, "I though you said you'd give me a beating I'll never forget?" "Oh, I will," Jellal grinned. "Meteor!" Jellal launched into the air and pushed Flace up with him. He kicked Flace in the chest so he moved further away. "GRAND CHARIOT!" Jellal shouted and Flace was hit by a tremendous blast. Jellal could hear a scream of pain from Flace.

"That should have been enough to finish him off," Jellal thought as he huffed and puffed. Jellal looked at the massive cloud of smoke he made and could hear a demonic sounding laugh. Jellal could see Flace's eyes through the thick cloud and they glowed brightly yellow. Flace ripped off his top to show Jellal the black marks which were now on his chest. "What's he done? His magic energy has skyrocketed," Jella questioned to himself. "Me and Sunjlie are brother and sister you see, so that means we can connect our magic energy to become one. Which also means…" Flace began and his body suddenly glowed bright with light. "We can combine our magic!" Flace shouted. The bright light faded away and Flace's body was covered in black and white marks.

"Prepare yourself Jellal!"


	93. I Never Came Alone

_**Just to let you know, it is my birthday on the 9**_ _ **th**_ _ **of October so I will be doing another upload then, apologies for not uploading in almost a month, I went back into brain storming ideas for a while and my attention was lost from writing the latest chapter. I will try to get into a steadier pace of uploads, possibly once a week. I've also had most of my free time taken up by homework from school, whenever I get a chance, I'll try to pre-write a few chapters and just upload them once a week if I'm satisfied.**_

Lucy slowly opened her eyes and as her vision grew clearer all she could see was white above her. She put her hand to her head as she leaned up to feel no pain whatsoever, "I thought I just crashed through the floor?" Lucy thought. She looked all around herself and everything looked the complete same as before. "There's no explanation for this," Lucy spoke allowed to herself.

A sudden image flashed in Lucy's head and she fell onto her knees on the floor while gripping her head. "What was that?" Lucy thought as she tried to stand back up. She started thinking again until another image suddenly appeared in her head, she fell onto her knees gripping her head with her eyes closed. "It happened again," Lucy thought, another image, it's hard to make them out though."

Lucy reopened one of her eyes and looked forward, the image in her head was gone again. "Is it some kind of illusion?" Lucy thought. Everything stayed as it was for a while more, no wind, no heat, no life. A sudden noise blasted into her ears, " _Feel our pain we have endured!"_ Lucy gripped her head once again, as she could hear the voices she could also hear a loud ringing noise in her ear, " _We have suffered long enough, it is our time to strike back."_

"The images kept repeatedly flashing in Lucy's mind in and out, giving her massive head pains as the ringing in her ears got louder and louder. "JUST STOP PLEASE!" Lucy shouted as she fell onto the floor in immense pain. A tear somehow started swelling up in Lucy's eye when she never even felt upset, "What's happening?" Lucy screamed as her body felt like it was being repeatedly struck yet she felt like she was at full energy.

Lucy stayed still and let all the pain hit her, "Is this….what I think it is?" The pain slowly started to fade away. "Is this what they had to deal with? Or is this all like an illusion?" The pain stopped and Lucy felt fine again, "I think I get it now, I know what this all means, I know how to get out..."

Natsu rushed along impatiently looking for the others, "Hey! Wait up will ya?" Gajeel complained as he chased after Natsu. "I'm picking up someone's scent but I can't completely tell who's it is," Natsu explained as he continuously ran along. "Wait up guys we aren't as fast as you!" Hibiki complained as he huffed and puffed, barely keeping up with Natsu and Gajeel.

Natsu suddenly stopped completely still in front of Gajeel. Gajeel continued to run forward though, crashing into Natsu, "What the hell are you up to? Gajeel shouted into Natsu's ear. Natsu looked at the floor and pointed to a spot on it. Gajeel glanced over to where Natsu was pointing, "What the…" Gajeel thought as he stared directly down in a small puddle of blood.

"That scent that I'm picking up from the blood," Natsu began. "What about it?" Eve asked as he finally caught up. Natsu's eyes darted towards a spot in the trees and he sprinted forward again. Natsu sprinted as fast as he could forward until he suddenly bumped into something, Natsu crashed head first into something and slowly moved his eyes upwards to see what he would consider the 'devil's stare', which was in actual fact to everyone else Erza's death stare, "Sorry?" Natsu gave a forced smile which also showed a sign of regret hidden behind it.

Gajeel and the others watched as they saw Natsu get blasted out the bush followed by Erza and Jura as they walked out of the trees. "Looks like you've been having a hard time," Gajeel said as he saw Erza's and Jura's battered body. "And you haven't?" Erza asked as she glanced at Gajeel. "Well we managed to beat one of them just fine," Natsu grinned as he pulled himself back up onto his feet. "And from the looks of you now it appears you got battered by another," Jura as he grinned back at Natsu.

"What's the stats of all allies you know of and of the enemy?" Erza asked. "Well, with the enemy we know three have been taken down and potentially another fight going on right now, me and Gajeel took down Friero, Rycu took down Jax and someone else has been taken out, from my guess it could be Tusk since Sky and Medusa are too strong to be taken down this fast, Sunjlie and Flace normally work together so they'd probably be taken out around the same time," Natsu explained.

"When it comes to allies we seem to be doing good, all of us are alive here, Wendy seems to be ok from the last time we saw her, Gray and Leon we've seen no contact from but knowing them they should be fine," Gajeel began. "What about Rycu and Wendy?" Erza asked. Gajeel glanced towards the giant beam of light then pointed towards it, "They're inside that thing, I'm sure they're still alive but we have got to find a way to get them out of here before the demon is free or they'll be trapped there forever."

"Then how do we get them out?" Erza demanded. "That's what we've been thinking about for the past hour and more, there seems to be nothing we can do," Hibiki sighed. Erza stared at the mesmerizing light and got lost in her thoughts, "If they don't get out of there soon they will surely be trapped there forever, no escape…" That alone gave Erza an uneasy feeling. "What do you suggest we do now?" Ichiya asked trying to get some attention by jumping into the centre on the group.

"Well we find Medusa and beat the crap out of her obviously," Natsu sighed, "Since she's the one who started this mess and studied this demon for so many years, surely she should know how to stop this, if we can stop the demon getting through the gate it should give us a longer opportunity to get him out." "You're not half wrong but if we stop the revival the gate will most likely close, we just have to delay the progression," Gajeel added.

"So, comrades! Let us go find Medusa and take her down!" Ichiya shouted as he pointed in a random direction to look for Medusa. Ichiya began to run off before he ran head-first into a stone wall that Jura made rise in front of him. "Hold up Ichiya, Medusa is a strong individual and she won't go down easily, I have no doubt she could wipe the floor with all of us. We need to take this more slowly and come up with a strategy to take down Medusa," Jura explained.

"What do you suggest?" Eve asked. "I say as a start we have to try and figure out how her magic works, once we understand it, it should be straight forward from there, we should be able to figure out a way to exploit it in some way," Jura explained. "Alright I get the gist of it old man, we'll have to fight Medusa to see her magic in action then we'll have to try and escape Medusa. Pretty straight forward," Natsu grinned.

"Yknow, sometimes I don't like your carefree attitude that much," Gajeel sighed, "You're probably going to get yourself killed at this rate. Erza thought to herself for a moment, "I have an idea," Erza said aloud to attract everyone's attention, "We'll split up the teams again, Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve and Jura should go together and try and find the others. Meanwhile, me, Natsu and Gajeel will try to find Medusa or any of the other minions then we'll handle them one by one."

"Sounds good to me, just don't complain if I'm stealing your spotlight," Natsu smiled. "A team fight will make these guys even easier than they already are, sounds good to me since these guys are no longer fun for me," Gajeel said. They all split up into their two groups, "I won't let you down," Jura bowed. Both teams went their separate way, "Medusa I'm coming for you!" Natsu grinned.

Jellal raised his arm to defend against Flace's punch as he saw him pounce towards him, "Soaring light blaster!" Flace shouted. A black and write aura appeared around Flace's fist, as he punched against Jellal's hand. A light shined in Jellal's eyes before there was a blinding explosion that blasted Jellal back again. Jellal swiped his arms in front of him to the right as he looked up and the ground beneath Flace began to crack.

Flace looked at his feet as the ground began to crackle, Flace leaped in the air before the ground beneath him gave way. Flace's and Jellal's eyes stared down at each other and Flace leaped towards Jellal as if he jumped off of nothing. Jellal grabbed his left arm with his right and straightened out his left palm, a light blue sphere appeared in his hand and it grew until it was the size of his arm. Jellal through the blue sphere at Flace, it suddenly explaned into a thick wall and pushed Flace back.

The wall disappeared but Flace kept being pushed back by the momentum, Jellal stood back up looking perfectly fine. "Heavenly arrows!" Jellal shouted as he swiped his hands in opposite directions of each other, several light arrows appeared out of seemingly nowhere and launched towards Flace as he flew back. "My turn!" Flace shouted. "What could he be doing now?" Jellal wondered as he pushed his foot against the ground.

"Light and dark fusion! Dark horizon!" Flace shouted. A dark orb appeared above Flace's head, the orb grew in size and wouldn't seemingly stop. "That attack…" Jellal thought, "I swear I've seen something like it before. I should know how to counter this, it is impossible to stop I believe so if I don't prevent it, I's over for me. It's blast radius is too big to escape from." The orb still continued to grow until it could be seen from all over the area and even further. The orb began to grow cracks in it after it eventually stopped growing, "It was a spell that I have to use, an enhanced version of one of my attacks," Jellal remembered. The sphere continued to crack and Jellal's legs stayed firm on the ground.

"What can you do now?!" Flace shouted, "there's nothing you can do to stop my attack is there? Are you seriously just gonna stand there as I attack? Are you that pathetic!?" Jellal grinned, the cracks spread until they covered the whole sphere of darkness, the layer of darkness broke off, allowing a bright layer of light to shine through. "It's over!" Flace shouted as the giant sphere of light travelled down to Jellal. "I remember now, the spell…problem is, I can't cast that spell…" Jellal thought.

The giant ball of light came ever so close to Jellal and he continued to have a smug grin, "Well I guess then it's a good thing that I didn't come on my own…"


	94. The Oracion Seis

Jellal grinned as the sphere's speed began to pick up and grew ever closer to him, "Midnight!" Jellal shouted. A large blue arrow of light was suddenly shot out of seemingly nowhere, it picked up speed an unrealistic rate and pierced into the sphere of the mixture of light and dark. Jellal watched as the arrow pierced back out the other side of the sphere, it stopped its progression and just stood there still floating. "How long does it take to take effect?" Jellal asked as he glanced behind him.

Flace looked in astonishment, "No way…" Flace thought. "The oracion seis!" Flace shouted. Midnight took a step forward from the crowd of his allies, "We're all here, that thing should combust in a minute at the most." "That piercing spell! How on earth did you know that?!" Flace demanded. Midnight glanced at Flace with a grin on his face, "That's because I don't know it." Flace looked completely confused, "My magic is reflector magic, I can twist and turn objects and alter your perception on reality," Midnight explained.

Flace was still confused, he soon realised though and held his eyes shut tight, when he reopened them, he saw the giant mixture of magic directed straight for him. "But how?!" Flace shouted. "You idiot, he distorted you and then reflected that giant thing back at you," Cobra explained as he shook his head in disappointment. The sphere blasted against Flace directly and the rest could hear his cries of pain. "Don't tell me he went down so easily with his own attack," Angel giggled.

Jellal stared at the sphere of light, "Something isn't quite right, keep your guard up." Everyone looked at the huge sphere and watched as it began to glow a golden colour, "You think you could get me with my own attack?" said Flace with his voice sounding much deeper and menacing. The giant golden sphere exploded and an unmeasurable amount of wind began circulating through the whole area, almost knocking everyone else to the floor. The golden light faded away and what could be seen was Flace floating in the sky, he had two bright angelic and demonic wings sticking out of him, a black and red demonic wing on his right. and a bright white angelic wing sticking out his left.

"This doesn't look too good to me," Cobra commented, "I don't think he plans on going down so easily." "I need to take him down fast, if I don't I won't be able to help the others, that means everyone's in danger of the demon if we can't get to Medusa," Jellal thought. An idea just struck in his head and he turned to the rest, "I have an idea." "Well what is it?" Angel asked. "Me and Midnight will stay back and fight Flace, everyone else must go and find another one of our allies. Cobra, you go find Rycu with Racer since supposedly he's their main target. Angel you go find Gray and Lucy. Lastly, Hoteye, you must go and find Jura, Wendy and Leon, everyone also what out for anyone else along your jouney," Jellal explained.

"What of Natsu and Erza?" Cobra asked. "Me and Midnight will look for them once we're finished up here, also if you happen to come across the dark wizards, take them out. If you're having trouble then just retreat," Jellal answered. "Seems like a pretty straightforward plan to me, I like the sound of that," Cobra grinned as he began to walk off into the woods "I just hope I'm the one who gets to pound Medusa." "Wait up for me!" Racer shouted as he sped forward to catch up to Cobra. Angel and Hoteye walked opposite directions, "Just stay safe too Jellal," Angel sighed. "You too Midnight!" Hoteye shouted before he disappeared. Jellal and Midnight faced towards Flace who just floated above them. "Finished with your little chat, have we?" Flace asked, "No matter what you do, there's no stopping this, even if you beat Medusa, even if you beat us, the demon will get free and it will kill all of us. You're better off not beating Medusa, she is the only one who can control that thing."

"We don't need her to stop that thing," Midnight grinned, "You're going down first though." "Any allies have fallen of mine, Rycu defeated Jax, Natsu and Gajeel defeated Flace and Leon and Gray defeated Tusk. I shall not be the next to fall of my comrades, none more shall fall." Flace explained as he stared at Midnight and his eyes were pure black. "How does he know all this? And he seems as he's had a sudden change in personality," Jellal asked. "I don't know but it seems as he's had a great increase of power all of a sudden," Midnight said.

"We'll have to end this quickly before it gets any worse, I can even sense more potential in him," Jellal said. Jellal charged towards Flace with his arms stuck out, multiple lightning swords appeared around Jellal and they all pointed towards Flace. "Strike!" Jellal shouted and the multiple lightning swords sliced towards Flace. Flace stared at all of them and whispered, "Separace." The swords sliced through Flace and didn't affect him at all, "Useless attack for my magic." "It went straight through him?" Jellal thought.

"Let's try this then!" Midnight shouted, "Dark Rondo!" A green magic circle appeared in front of Midnight and it circled around while releasing multiple green and black spheres that all directed towards Flace. Flace stuck his arm out and a white shield appeared to cover him, the green and black spheres bashed against the shield and merged to make a sphere around Flace. "Try dodging this!" Midnight grinned as the sphere shined bright before exploding.

As the smoke cleared Midnight looked in shock as Flace had a white shield surrounding him and he was seemingly unhurt. "Useless," Flace sighed. "How does he do that?" Midnight thought. "My turn," Flace grinned. "Great Lucin," Flace whispered. Flace stuck both his arms out with one white sphere and one black sphere in each hand, he slowly put his two hands together, the black and white sphere merged together, around the sphere it began to spark with electricity. "What's he doing?" Jellal asked. "I don't know but I'm sure it'll be devastating," Midnight suggested.

Flace looked up and stared at Jellal and Midnight exactly, "Die." A giant black cloud appeared above Flace and the sphere in his hands disappeared. Flace pointed his right hand forward at the two and a giant beam of light blasted forward, it blasted straight through them and Flace could faintly hear Jellal and Midnights cry of pain. "I shall show no mercy."

Laxus yawned and leaned back as he stared outside the glass window while Mira was washing it. "Isn't there an easier way of doing that? What about Juvia's water?" Laxus asked. "She's too busy crying instead of helping," Mira cried as she glanced at Juvia who was staring face down at the table. "But where's my Gray!" Juvia sobbed. "He's probably in the middle of fighting for his own life, there in a tough situation," Makao said.

That made Laxus think again, "I want to go help them because they're in a struggle but Makarov suggests that we live them to get themselves killed." Makarov knows what he's doing, like I said, they'll be fine. Ichiya even told us that they've taken out roughly three of them," Gildarts explained. "And it's also apparent that they're all injured badly, we should be some of the people there helping them! If that demon gets lose which it probably will, they'll all be dead with that thing being under their control!" Laxus shouted.

Gildarts glanced at Levy, "Found anything yet on the demon?" Gildarts asked. "I have, but honestly I support Laxus with this, this demon is extremely powerful, it has all its energy stored in something called an orochi, point is that it could easily wipe out all of Fiore with its wizards if not stopped. Its power is unfathomable. They'll be dead if we let that thing get lose, I say we send reinforcements fast," Levy explained.

"Which is why I suggested we use the cannon to kill that thing as soon as it's released from its prison," Makarov interrupted. "I also looked into the dark wizards causing this mess plus the cannon they want to use," Levy said. "Go on," Gildarts sighed. "Firstly, these dark wizards are not to be taken lightly, they're as big of a threat as the demon itself. There are eight of them. First there is Jax, he is a heavy powerhouse man with metal fists, he's supposedly not very reliable from how he thinks he's an invincible being with his power, he believes that the only person that can strike him down is Medusa but it's clearly evident that isn't the case since he's confirmed to be taken out by Rycu," Levy began.

"A cocky strong guy eh? Not that we don't have a few of those," Makao chuckled. "Only difference is that ours has an IQ of a snail as well," Gildarts sighed again. "Next there is Tusk, he wields a magical horn that is extremely powerful, if in the right hands it is capable of being town level in destruction. As for Tusk himself, he supposedly found the weapon when he was young, he was abandoned by his family, he saw the horn as a lucky charm. Tusk was found by Hades and was raised by him, he was shown how to use the horn as a weapon and gained extreme power from it. Tusk is supposedly one of the weakest in the group though, well at least compared to the rest of them," Levy explained. Makarov closed his eyes and began to think as he heard Levy speak.

"After that it mentions a fire wielder named Friero, he doesn't use any type of slayer magic but it's still different from the basics. Friero supposedly has the power to shape fire into objects and into moving things like animals. He was apparently an outcast when he was young, everyone despised him for his unnatural abilities. He ended up running away from everyone, like Tusk Hades found him and taught him how to use his power. We again know from Ichiya he was taken out by Natsu and Gajeel," Levy continued. "Like he'd stand up against Natsu's fire," Laxus thought.

"Next is Dusk, he's a sand user but he can also change stone into sand plus turn his sand into rock. He was different in a way, he had a loving caring family and even friends to accompany him, supposedly one day he _'accidentally'_ killed his father with his newfound powers. He liked the satisfaction of killing and he apparently killed his entire village. He found out about Grimoire Heart and joined them, Hades liked the way he acted to personality trained him to make him more powerful than he already was," Levy said. "Sounds kinda rough but he killed an entire village like that just for the satisfaction?" Gildarts thought.

"Brother and sister Sunjlie and Flace. Flace uses dark magic while Sunjlie uses light magic. They grew up in an awkward family to put it into perspective, one minute their parents loved them like they were just born then one minute they act like they wish they were never born in the first place. They may not look so much but they're some of the higher-ups in the group individually, there power mainly remains hidden but they shouldn't be taken lightly to try and finish them off quickly," Levy explained.

"Next is Sky, she's supposedly the second most powerful in the group, coming before their commander Medusa. It says nothing about Sky's past in here but all we need to know and what does tell us is that she's immensely powerful. Lastly is Medusa, she's the mastermind over this, the most powerful in the group, again, it says nothing about her past but it does mention that supposedly she is stronger than Gray's master Ur," Levy finished. "Stronger than Ur? She was one of the most powerful back when Gray and the others were young!" Makao said in shock.

"What about the cannon?" Laxus asked. "That thing is deadly, it has a blast radius of a couple thousand meters, it will catch everyone in the blast radius undoubtedly," Levy added. "Where are you gathering this information from?" Makarov asked. "This book," Levy said as she held up an old book, Makarov read the title, it was called, 'Dark Magic Histoy'. "Where did you get the book from?" Gildarts asked. "From the 'Library of sorcery' of course!" Levy explained. Makarov thought for a moment.

"Levy, Laxus and Gildarts, I have a mission for the three of you."


	95. The Library Of Sorcery

Laxus, Gildarts and Levy all stood outside of 'The Library of Sorcery'. It was a giant building seemingly that had its own area of land separated from everywhere else. "So, this is the place where you got that book from?" Gildarts asked Levy. "Where else would I have taken us?" Levy responded irritatingly. "Just remember we shouldn't be here for long, all we have to do is find out who wrote this book of information then trace him down for more details," Laxus explained.

"Also, let's try not to make a mess of the place," Gildarts sighed. "We haven't got Natsu here so there's no need to say that," Laxus grinned. Laxus had one last look up at the sign above the front door before he pushed his way through the wooden doors. As he stepped through he saw hundreds of giant shelves packed with books from top to bottom. Gildarts looked directly up and could immediately tell that the building was much bigger on the inside then it was on the outside.

"Yep, this place is bigger than what you think," Levy smiled. Laxus looked at the book Levy held, it had no author written on it, or at least where the authors title was originally was, was torn away. "No need for us to just stand here, let's get moving," Gildarts ordered as he walked towards what seemed to look like a counter where a sleepy looking old woman was barely able to stand up.

"Excuse me," Levy said politely as she tried to get her attention. The old woman payed no attention to Levy and seemed as if her mind had drifted off into space. Levy asked again but she was still ignored. Irritatingly Laxus snatched the book out of Levy's hands and slammed it onto the wooden counter which made a loud clashing noise, immediately knocking the old woman back into reality.

The old woman stared at Laxus for a while, making him feel quite uncomfortable. There was a long silence for a while as the old woman leaned forward to stand properly. She coughed a bit before taking a deep breath and pushing on her cane that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LIBRARY!?" The old woman yelled as she hit Laxus in his head with the cane multiple times repeatedly.

Gildarts grabbed the cane to stop it from hitting Laxus again, "Sorry about that, he just dropped it accidently," Gildarts made up. She stared up at Gildarts for a while longer thinking about it. She eventually tore her eyes away and asked, "How may I help you today?" Levy pointed to the book on the counter, "Sorry to bother you but we'd like to know who the author of this book was, it's a vital piece of information for a mission we've been sent to do," Levy explained.

"Ah, you're the girl who withdrew this a few days ago if I remember correctly. I should be able to help," The woman said as she flicked through some pages of the book. She slammed it shut and came from round the counter, "Follow me." The woman began to walk off to the stairs so everyone else followed behind her. "This book is in the section of Dark wizards from what I can tell by its content," she explained.

"Where is that section?" Gildarts asked. "Top floor and there are one hundred floors here," she explained. Everyone felt like collapsing to the floor, "We won't make it," Laxus said dramatically. The old woman looked back at them, "I'm the one who has to go up her multiple times a day so I don't see why you should be complaining."

By the time they went up fifteen floor they were already exhausted, "I feel like these are going on forever," Levy complained. Laxus looked at the thousands of book shelves there were and read some of their titles, ' _99 non-lethal magic tricks'_ , next to it a book read, _'99 types of easily learnable magic'_. "There are some weird books on these shelves for sure," Laxus thought.

Every floor they went up Levy kept pointing out a book she claimed to have read hundreds of times and would keep talking about it until she saw another book she'd read. "This one I even read last night! It's a non-fiction tale of a street performer who went into wizardry, he was beaten up by some other wizards so he joined a guild and vowed to get stronger and be a protector for everyone he cared about. He went on countless journeys but still pulled out victorious every time, he kept learning from his mistakes and pushed forward until the end. It's so good you should read it!" Levy said without even stopping to take a breath. "I don't honestly care," Laxus sighed.

They kept on climbing endlessly and their legs began to ache, "For an old lady you're in better shape than me," Gildarts grinned as they passed the seventy-sixth floor. "I'm not the one out on the battle field most of the time, anyways, walking down and up these stairs so many times and you'll get used to it," she explained. Gildarts glared at her unsure. After a long while they eventually made it to the top floor, "Finally, that felt like an endless staircase," Laxus sighed in relief.

"My legs hurt bad," Levy whined. "Well we're here now," Gildarts said. On the top floor there were hundreds of filing cabinets all rowed and stacked up on top of each other. "This certainly isn't like the other floors," Laxus said. "The few floors beneath us are all about Dark Wizards, this top floor is full of files of the different book names and their author. They are categorised by their genre and then categorised further in alphabetical order for that genre," the old woman explained.

"Like I care," Laxus thought to himself. She seemingly vanished throughout the countless filing cabinets and all you could here was her scurrying away through the folders. She soon returned with a folder and handed it to Levy, "This should be it." Levy opened the folder and it read, 'Dark Magic History, written by-' "Say what?" Levy said and double checked the papers. "What is it?" Laxus asked.

"The author's name isn't here! It's been wiped from the paper!" Levy said in shock. "You've got to be kidding me," Laxus moaned as he looked at the papers. "Well if the name isn't on there I'm afraid there's nothing else Ii can do to help you more," The old woman said as she walked towards the stairs. "Hold up!" Gildarts shouted. "What is it now?" The old woman complained.

"Don't think you'll trick me so easily," Gildarts grinned. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. "First of all, I know you have the information that we want because I payed close attention to what you were doing and I noticed a spell being used which probably suggests you used some magic to erase some of the information on that. Secondly, I know you aren't who you're showing to be, you aren't the real librarian here, I've come here once before and last time Ii saw that librarian she couldn't even get up the first five floors," Gildarts explained.

"What nonsense!" She shouted. "Actually, now when you say that, last time I came to fetch this book she was much different," Levy pointed out. "Alright you imposter, tell us the information we want and tell us where the real librarian is. I'd do it fast because you've managed to piss me off," Laxus threatened. "This could have been resolved quite easily if you just left, but if you intend on getting answers I have no choice," she sighed. "What do you intend on doing exactly then?" Levy asked. She closed her eyes and waited for a moment. Suddenly her eyes opened wide and became a blood red colour.

A red beam of light went through the roof and surrounded her, her body changed back into what it was supposed to be, her right and left hands were giant claws that were completely black but had a red aura around both. She had a pitch-black hair and dark blue eyes. She had a black and red dress on which also had straps around it. "My name's Hilda and you shall fear me!" She shouted.

"So, Hilda, if you just tell us who this stupid author is and tell us where the librarian then this won't have to go any further!" Laxus shouted. "Oh, we both know it's far too late for that," Hilda held a great smile that stayed there. "Let's try to end this quickly, I can sense I deadly high amount of magic energy in her," Levy said nervously.

"No, if we rush her then she'll be able to end us quickly," Gildarts said. "Come at me," Hilda gestured. "Oh, I'll show you!" Laxus shouted as he charged towards Hilda. He pulled back his electrified fists and swung a punch at Hilda. Her beastly hand effortlessly caught his punch, "Is that it?" Hilda asked. "Try this then!" Laxus shouted as his fist electrified and sent an electrical shock through her. Hilda seemed perfectly find though but Laxus was suddenly blasted back by a red electrical shock.

"What was that?" Laxus asked as he pulled himself back up. "Your own attack was blasted back at you but it was different when it came out of her," Levy pointed out. "I had my suspicions," Gildarts sighed. "What is it?" Laxus asked. "Hilda, is a demon," Gildarts explained. "Say what? How's that possible, I thought demons were usually big monsters that could destroy whole cities?" Laxus said.

"That's not all, demons can come in many different forms, even in the shape of humans so don't be fooled," Gildarts explained. "So, the old one is the first to figure me out, interesting," Hilda giggled. "Taste some fire you demon!" Levy shouted as the word fire appeared in front of her, flaming in its beauty and launched itself at Hilda. Hilda simply walked through the fire and all of it didn't seemed to hurt her at all as she locked on her sight to Levy.

Levy watched in front of herself and prepared for her to attack. Suddenly though Hilda appeared behind Levy, she wrapped her arm around Levy's body keeping her arms down her right hand was by Levy's face. "Not a step," Hilda grinned as she put her claw by Levy's neck. "Or are you gonna risk your friend's life just to hit me," Hilda grinned. Laxus had his fist clenched and looked up at Hilda directly in the eyes. "I'd can sense someone's a little angry," Hilda teased.

"Calm yourself Laxus," Gildarts said as he grabbed him by his arm. Hilda began to gently stroke Levy's face with one of her long claws, "Such a pretty girl gone to waste," Hilda whispered into her ear. "How this is going to work is if you surrender yourself then I'll keep her as she is and she'll go free. If you refuse to do so then I'll have no choice, I'll kill your friend here and then kill you too," Hilda giggled again.

"She's crazy," Laxus mumbled. Think carefully, I won't give you long to answer because I'm quite impatient you see. "What do we do?" Laxus asked. "I'm clueless myself," Gildarts shook his head. "We surrender then she'll kill us before she sets Levy free so we can't trick her. We don't surrender then it's over for Levy, she'll be dead no matter what we try, Hilda doesn't seem that negational to me, she just gives a demand and there's a consequence for not doing it," Gildarts explained.

"Time is ticking," Hilda sighed. "Isn't there anything else we can do!?" Laxus shouted. "Someone's getting aggressive again, this is our only deal I'll make, it's your choice," Hilda laughed uncontrollably. Laxus grabbed his head in frustration, "GOD DAMMIT YOU BITCH!" Laxus shouted in pure anger. "You think shouting will help at all? Anyways, your time's up now. You haven't given yourself up so wish your friend their last goodbyes!" Hilda shouted as she threw Levy off the side railing, making her body fall down the one hundred floors.

"It was good fun but I think it's time to end it now!"


	96. Limbo

"Levy!" Laxus shouted as her body fell down the whole one hundred floors. Levy closed her eyes as she braced for the impact which would certainly kill her. Laxus leaped towards Hilda with an electrical fist and punched her straight across the face but it didn't even move her from where she was standing. Hilda had a devilish grin on her face as she slowly looked eye-to-eye with Laxus. "You've got to hit harder than that!" Hilda shouted as she punched Laxus aggressively across the face and smashing him down three floors.

Laxus pulled himself back up and peered over the balcony where he saw Levy getting closer to the floor. Levy closed her eyes as she was near the floor. "Levy!" A high-pitched voice shouted. As Levy was by the floor she was swooped up by someone and was suspended in the air. She opened her eyes and saw she didn't hit the floor and was put back on her feet. "Are you ok?" The voice asked again. Levy turned around to see Happy floating right in front of her. "I'm fine thanks," Levy said, "Weren't you supposed to be with Natsu's group?"

"I was with them but I was beaten up in battle and Natsu didn't want me getting hurt anymore so as soon as I recovered I flew back here and reported all of the information back to Makarov and some of the other guilds. Makarov told me to come here and it seems I made it in time," Happy explained. "Happy!" Laxus shouted, "Take Levy back to the guild quickly and report this to Makarov!" Happy picked up Levy and began to fly back to guild as fast as he could.

Gildarts stared eye-to-eye with Hilda, "Now they're out the way, let's settle this the right way." "Sounds good to me," Hilda giggled. Hilda leaped towards Gildarts with her demon hand on her right clenched, she swung her fist at his face. Gildarts raised his hand and caught her demon hand which pushed him back slowly but he was still standing. "I'm fired up now," Gildarts grinned.

"This isn't where I thought it was," Rycu said to himself. He looked around the twisted landscape and said, "This is limbo, stuck between heaven and hell is what some say it is." Rycu started walking forward in any direction he saw fit even though he knew anywhere he went it would lead to nowhere. "There's no way to get out of limbo, or at least not a physical way to get out, brute strength alone is never enough, then again, I'm out of ideas of how you could physically get out, you can't punch your way through the floor until you get out, the landscape is infinite."

Rycu stopped walking, "Why am I speaking aloud to myself? Not like it matters since I'm the only person here, if I'm here long enough I could honestly go insane. There's nothing I can do to help Lucy, hopefully she figures it out and finds a way to get out herself. Then again, she's much smarter than me anyway." "I think it's time to make my leave."

Rycu smashed his fists into the ground and held them there as an energy field appeared around him, "Even here in limbo there's traces of magic energy. If I can absorb the traces of magic energy, I can merge my energy flow with the energy in the ground, I can control the landscape and teleport myself out of here since I'll have control. It's a long shot but there's always a chance."

The energy field strengthened around Rycu and you could even see Rycu's energy flowing out the ground as he merged with it. The energy field strengthened around Rycu even more and as he did he started to see some images of the future in his head, they all flashed through so fast that he couldn't make it out what they were but it strengthened his energy flow even further. The energy shield around him glowed golden and the surrounding around him was changing again. Rycu closed his eyes and when he opened them again he was back in the forest.

Rycu stopped merging with the energy flow and looked around, "Finally, I think it's time for me to go join the fight once again." Rycu grinned. He looked at the surroundings to see everything had changed once again, "Looking at this were running out of time." Rycu began to walk forward before he heard something behind him which made him stop in his tracks.

"Hello there Rycu," A voice said behind him. Rycu glanced behind himself and saw Sky standing behind him. "So, you're here still," Rycu sighed. "What a smart boy you are, you managed to find a way to get out of limbo before the gate closed. I am happy since Medusa would prefer to have you but it seems like your friend isn't out yet, not that it matters to us," Sky explained. "If you expect me to go with Medusa, you'll have to force me," Rycu grinned.

"That's great for me since that's the fun way of doing it," Sky giggled. "But just to let you know," Sky began, "I'll be sure to end this quickly!" Sky shouted as she dived towards Rycu as her magic hands appeared around her. Rycu blocked Sky's fist and pushed her back, Rycu was hit from behind with a punch from her floating hands. One of the other hands shot multiple green waves at Rycu from the front and blasted him back. "She's splitting up her hands to attack me from all direction," he thought.

"Rycu, you can't win," Sky said. A blue, light beam wrapped around Rycu's right arm and he was being dragged by it. He tugged on the line to pull it towards him and punched it with his other hand to destroy it. Rycu leaped towards Sky but was suddenly pulled but as two of the light beams wrapped around his arms, one on each. The rest of the hands looped around in a circle and were charging something. A giant laser beam fired and hit Rycu directly and weakened him greatly. The hands split apart again and Rycu couldn't keep track of them but the two blue beams were still wrapped around him. Rycu glanced back at the blue hand that held the beams. He pulled both his hands forward which had enough force to pull the hand forward and smash it against the ground.

"So, there's an unlimited amount of these hands, or at least they're linked to her magic energy," Rycu thought. He charged forward once again while dodging all of the attacks the hands were blasting out. "My turn!" Rycu shouted as he found an open opportunity to attack. He pulled his fist back and aimed his attack at her face. As the attack was inches from her face Rycu's fist stopped and he stopped moving. He looked down and saw Sky's fist pushing against his stomach.

Rycu collapsed to the ground unconscious as Sky looked down on him. "What a disappointment," Sky sighed, "I thought you was much more powerful than this." Rycu's body on the floor began to disappear and Sky looked in confusion as she her foot went straight through it. "That boy has some nerve," Sky said irritated. She began to look for Rycu, "I'm coming for you Rycu…"

Makarov sat high on his stool in the guild hall with his eyes closed, concentrating on something. "Something wrong master?" Makao asked. Makarov reopened his eyes and looked down at him, "I sense something is greatly wrong, I'm picking up a weird presence so greatly yet it is so far away, and it wants something, it craves it greatly." "Any idea what it is?" Makao asked again.

Makarov shook his head, "I am honestly clueless, but what I do know is what they're after." "Which is?" Mira asked. "Rycu," Makarov explained. "Why would they be after Rycu?" "I don't know yet but I know Rycu is in danger…and that's not just from this presence I'm sensing." "You're saying multiple people are after Rycu?" Makao asked. "Yes, clearly, he doesn't have the greatest reputation with dark wizards, or maybe they want to manipulate his power for themselves," Makarov suggested.

"Shouldn't we be trying to protect him then from all these people?" Mira asked. "Natsu and Rycu alone cover each other's back but I myself will step in as well at the magnitude of the power I detect," Makarov explained. "What are we going to do now though that Rycu is out on that mission though with everyone else? You've heard that everyone has been split up and if I remember correctly Rycu could be on his own, he has nobody to cover his back." Mira asked.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing that I can do at this time, all we can do is hope he comes back perfectly fine," Makarov sighed. "We can't just do that! With what they're against, none of them will come back alive!" Mira exclaimed. Why haven't we sent Gildarts and Laxus to go help them then?" Makao asked. "That's because I already sent Jellal and the Oracion Seis to go help. Hopefully they'll be enough to win the battle, it's too high of a risk to leave them on their own like you said," Makarov explained.

"What will you do if they all die though, and the demon is revived, if it ends up happening?" Makao asked. "If any of my children die in the battlefield…I will avenge them no matter the cost." Mira had a look of uncertainty on her face, "Master, from the descriptions Levy gave us, these are possibly one of the strongest groups of dark wizards to ever exist, I believe I'd be right in saying they're stronger than Grimoire Heart. They can't be taken so lightly."

"Remember what happy confirmed with us, they've already taken out Jax, Friero and Tusk. I'm sure they're capable of finishing this fight," Makarov said. "Remember what he also said though, those were the weakest of the bunch and wore them all down pretty well. Not to mention that Sky took out a few of them all at once on her own. I hate to say this but I think you over-estimate their true power," Mira explained.

"Mira, it's not always their raw power that will win them the fight, it's the inner strength they have. They may be losing at the moment, but I know they won't give up, not until their last breath. You should know after seeing Natsu and the others so much, you can never put them down, their determination alone won't let them down. They don't know what giving up is. That's why I have faith in them, I believe they push to the end. With our weight on their backs, they can't lose.

Mira still had an uncertain look, "But what if that's not enough to win?" Makarov had a smile on his face, "Then it'll be their emotions to keep pushing forward, they care to much to give up."

Rycu breathed heavily as he walked along, "She's much more powerful than I thought, I have to be more careful around her." Rycu heard some noises as he walked along through the forest but just ignored it. "While I have the opportunity, I guess I should go find Natsu and the others. I'm too weak to take Sky on, on my own."

Rycu continued to hear the noises around him, "Who's there?" Nothing responded and the noise stopped. Rycu continued to walk on until he was in a large open area surrounded thickly by trees. When Rycu was almost about to re-enter the forest, he heard a noise behind him. Rycu turned around and saw a man that was surrounded by a dark aura and on closer inspection he looked exactly like Rycu but had some dark marks on his arm, face and seemingly body.

"Who the hell are you?" Rycu asked as he inspected in confusion. The person took some steps towards Rycu. Rycu took a step back and the whole area was suddenly surrounded by thick large dark pillars. "You're not going anywhere, I've been inspecting you for a long time and now this is my opportunity to do what I've been waiting to do for a long time," The person explained. "I asked who are you?" Rycu said nervously as he could feel the person's great magic energy.

The person stared Rycu straight in the eye and said, "I am you, and you are me."


	97. Searching For Revenge

_**Decided to do a double upload since I hadn't done one is quite a while**_

The person got closer to Rycu and grabbed him by the neck while pushing him against the wall, "Who…are…you?" Rycu barely managed to ask as he was losing his breath. The person stared Rycu straight in the eye which let Rycu see directly who it was. Rycu looked in disbelief as he looked directly like himself but with the dark marks on his body. "You look exactly like me," Rycu said in confusion.

The person loosened the grip around his neck and threw him across the floor behind him. Rycu pushed himself up onto his hands and feet and glance behind him, "How does he look like me?" The person picked Rycu back up by his neck. "Believe me or not, I'm you from the future. If you can't tell already, I'm now a dark wizard," he said. Rycu looked even more confused, "Just to make it simpler, I go by the name Lucifer now."

"Why and how did you get here?" Rycu barely managed to ask. "How is the answer you'll have to find out yourself, but why is something I'll tell you. A while away from now, tragedy will strike, you'll be absorbed by darkness in grief and you'll end up like me, the opposite of what you are now pretty much. So, if you're wondering why I am here…I'm here to make the job quicker, if the darkness is spreading through you quickly from now, by the time the day comes, your power will become unfathomable. Then while you're blinded by darkness, I'll kill you and absorb your power to make me twice as strong as I am now," Lucifer explained.

Rycu was smashed against the floor again and he could feel his bones shattering, so much that he couldn't even push himself off of the floor now. Lucifer walked over the Rycu and kicked him across the floor again. Lucifer grabbed both of Rycu's arms and pinned them against the floor, a dark aura appeared around both of them as Lucifer held his tight grip around Rycu. Rycu screamed in pain as he could feel the dark magic flow through his veins and could feel it fighting against his dragon slayer magic, fusing with each other.

Rycu could also feel some black marks appearing on him, one round his left arm and a large black mark on his back. Lucifer had a large grin on his face as Rycu slipped from consciousness as the dark magic continued to flow through his body. Eventually Lucifer finished and let go of Rycu and let him lay there as the pillars around the area disappeared. Lucifer walked away with a grin on his face, "Not long now Rycu."

Lucy pulled herself together and regained her composure. "Limbo," Lucy said, "All this is, is Limbo. I know how to get out." "As long as I have my keys, I can use them to teleport me to the celestial realm even from here and then out to somewhere safe. I could go crazy in this place if I was here long enough, stuck being on your own in an endless landscape full of nothing while talking to yourself like I am doing now."

"I hope everyone is still ok, I don't know what I'd do if they were all suffering in battle while I'm stuck here doing absolutely nothing." Lucy sighed. "But this is my chance to get back and re-join the battle!" Lucy said with determination. She pulled out Loke's key and summoned him.

Loke looked around in confusion, "Where have you ended up this time?" "Limbo," Lucy sighed. "I'm not even going to question how you go here," Loke sighed. "Just get me out of here please," Lucy frowned. "Fine let's get moving," Loke said as he grabbed onto Lucy's wrist. Lucy closed her eyes as she could feel herself being dragged through to the celestial world.

When she reopened her eyes, she was faced to face with the celestial king. "Why hello there friend," beckoned the deep voice. "I see you and your friends are in quite a pickle indeed." "Yes, we're in a fierce battle against a group of Dark Wizards, at the moment we're suffering defeat from the looks of it," Lucy sighed.

"Be honest with yourself, do you think this is a fight that can be won?" The king asked. "In all honesty, I don't see us winning this fight whatsoever, I think they're far too strong for us to take on even with us outnumbering them, they just take us out one by one. Even with our strongest like Rycu and Natsu, they both end up being taken down easily by the likes of Sky at the same time even. I don't see a victory in sight," Lucy sighed.

"Your friends, you know they'll finish this fight to their dying breath, don't you?" The king asked. "Well yes, they don't know when to quit a fight, which is kind of what I hate about them. They're so foolish and never learn from it, they'll get themselves killed if they continue this way. I can't count how many times they've almost died because they just don't know when to quit!" Lucy shouted with a small tear running down her cheek.

"But whenever they are near death, they always come out victorious, what will make this any different for them?" The king asked again. "Some fights just can't be won, the same goes for Natsu, there's some fights that no matter what he did he couldn't win and he ended up being saved by someone else like Gildarts." Lucy explained.

"Why is it that you want them to give up then try at all?" The king asked. "Because I don't want them to die! I don't want anyone to die, I couldn't bear with the pain of them dying when I could have done something to save them!" Lucy exclaimed as tears ran down her cheeks. "I see," Said the king.

"From what I hear, your friends are quite the crazy people, they may seem stupid acting the way they do to you. But I see something different." Lucy glanced up to the king's face and stopped her tears before wiping them away. "I see a brave bunch of determined souls, I admire that in them over despising it, they're certainly an unusual bunch but deep down they care. They won't give up in a fight because they know they can win, its determination like that which pushes them to win," The king explained.

"I see," Lucy sighed, "I can't believe I've known them for so long and you understand them better than me." Lucy wiped the last of her tears away, "Loke, take me back to the forest, I'm going to help finish this fight once and for all!" "Whatever you say," Loke grinned as he grabbed Lucy's wrist and teleported them back to the forest. As soon as Lucy saw the trees she knew she was out, "Let's go find the others, keep your gate open."

Lucy rushed forward along with Loke looking for anyone. They ran for a while until they saw a body lying on the floor. Lucy recognised it instantly, "Rycu!" Lucy rushed over and kneeled next to Rycu. She shook his body but he wasn't waking up, "What's happened to him?" Loke asked as Lucy put Rycu's head onto of her hand and held him close to her body. "He's knocked out cold, we need to get him somewhere safe quickly," Lucy explained.

"There isn't really anywhere safe to go at the moment, the dark wizards could be anywhere, whoever knocked out Rycu could be nearby for all we know." "Then let's get moving quickly," Lucy ordered as she stood up and laying Rycu's body back down on the floor. "Where can we go that'll be safe though?" Loke asked as he put Rycu's body over his shoulder. "We can go back to the guild hall, we're not far from there now," Lucy suggested as she began to walk back. "Let's go fast then, I have a bad feeling about this."

Gildarts pushed Hilda back with one of her fists as she went in for another attack. "I'm not letting you stop us from finding out the truth to this," Gildarts stated. "I'm not really bothered about that, I won't tell you the truth as long as I'm still breathing. Anyways, it'll be too much fun to kill you both!" Hilda exclaimed as she dived towards Gildarts again. Gildarts raised his guard to block Hilda's attack but she went straight passed him, as she went passed she stretched out her demon hand on her right and gripped Gildarts head with just the on hand.

As hilda landed on the floor she swung Gildarts over her shoulder into the ground and smashed him through multiple floors. The floors Gildarts was hit through destroyed some of the structure holding up the floors above. The beams all collapsed at once and the floors began to tumble. Hilda jumped off of the top of the balcony at the top floor to where she saw Laxus looking over the balcony.

Hilda smashed through the balcony Laxus peered over and smashed him through the next floor. The floors above them all continued to cause a chain of reactions which was causing more chaos. Laxus kicked Hilda off of him as he smashed through the next few floors, causing them to collapse as well. Hilda's demon hand stabbed into the wall and stopped her fall. Laxus saw the floor above him about to collapse on him so he jumped off of balcony and tried to boost himself to the other side.

As he was mid-air Hilda dived into Laxus and grabbed his neck with her demon hand. Gildarts dived down and smashed into Hilda as they all fell. They smashed into the next set of floors as everything above collapsed still. Hilda glanced behind her and turned her other hand into the demon form and grabbed Gildarts. Hilda smashed Gildarts and Laxus together, she threw Laxus to the other side and Gildarts beneath her.

Laxus shot a volt of lighting at Hilda from across the other side but she managed to spot what he was doing fast enough to catch the attack and launch it back at him. Hilda could hear Gildarts beneath her jumping up as fast as he could to the floor she was on. As Gildarts blasted up to the floor she was on, making the rest of the floors beneath collapse. Laxus looked down at the floor and realise how close they were to the bottom, "Watch out Gildarts!" Laxus shouted. Gildats blasted through the floor Hilda was standing on but she managed to dodge out the way and blast him into Laxus. Hilda looked at how close they were to the ground and blasted up through all the wood in her path to avoid the wood collapsing on her. Hilda took one final burst through a thick set of wood to free herself from the massive pile falling on her.

"How pathetic," Hilda sighed as she looked at Gildarts and Laxus' beaten up, barely conscious bodies. Hilda started to walk to their bodies with her demon hands unleashed, "I'll happily end your lives right now," Hilda grinned. She picked up Laxus by the neck with her demon hand and tightened her grip around his neck.

"Hilda, stop this!" Shouted a voice. Hilda looked to the entrance of the library where Makarov stood. "You…tell me where he is Makarov, or I may claim your life as well as theirs," Hilda glanced. "I will not tell you where he is, he is under my protection now and if any harm is brought to him by you, I will make you may dearly," Makarov threatened. "So, you actually took him in under your wing, did you? That doesn't matter, I shall use any means necessary to get my revenge," Hilda said.

"What happened that day was not his fault, I know the truth," Makarov said. "I know what happened that day, I saw it with my two eyes right before me!" Hilda exclaimed. Hilda turned around and looked up to the roof which had collapsed which let light in. "Well you should know then, if you try to kill him, I will not hesitate to strike back at you, trust me when I say I don't want things to turn out this way, please stop this," Makarov begged as Laxus and Gildarts got up in confusion and stared at Hilda as the conversation continued.

"What bull shit, we all know there's no peaceful way to end this, the only way to stop me is to kill me, which I won't take kindly to," Hilda explained. "I won't let you get close to him, he doesn't deserve to have to handle you along with everything else," Makarov sighed. "Just one fight, that's all I need to end this and you won't stop me, even if that means I have to go through you first." "This'll be the last time I ask you Hilda, stop this madness and leave him alone or else I will intervene and handle you myself."

Hilda glanced back at Makarov, "You know my answer." Makarov shook his head, "So you've chosen to continue this fight. Well, the day you approach him I will fight for him." Makarov turned around, "Let us make our leave. I hope I don't come across your face ever again." As soon as everyone had left Hilda took a sigh of relief.

"Not long now, not long till I have my revenge against you…Rycu."


	98. Fear

**Decided to make a longer chapter this time and yes, it's 3630 words**

Jellal and Midnight looked up at Flace in his shining body, "Do you dare to resist further?" "Like your threats can hold us down, "Jellal said as pushed himself up again. Three golden rays blasted at them both and they were blasted apart. "His power…are they all supposedly as strong as this one is?" Jellal thought as he coughed up a little pool of blood. Midnight pushed himself up again and stared directly at Flace in the eyes who was charging up another attack.

"No you don't!" Midnight shouted as he used invisible scythe to knock Flace out of his attack. "If you think you'll get the better of me then you're wrong! The only people who have overcome me are Natsu, Erza and Jellal! I won't let you beat me as well!" "It appears that someone is a little irritated with me," Flace grinned. "Think you're funny tough guy? Why don't I show you just how weak you truly are like me."

There was a silence, "Why do you fight? Do you truly think you have a chance going up against us? You just are not strong enough to take us on, the demon shall be revived and all is doomed for anyone who opposes us," Flace explained. "Do you people truly see yourself as this high and mighty? There are people who are infinitely stronger than you," Midnight sighed. "Then I will strive to take them down," Flace said. "Well I guess I'm your first target!" Midnight shouted.

Then Flace suddenly realised. From behind he heard someone shout, "Grand Chariot!" Flace turned around and saw Jellal had his arms on top of each other. Above were seven magic circles which all connected to each other. A giant powerful light blast was shot out from each circle and blasted Flace multiple times. The explosion created a giant crater in the ground were Flace stood.

"Impossible!" Jellal thought as he saw Flace was still standing perfectly fine. "That attack can rival the damage a meteor does yet it did nothing?" "You think a measly attack like that can hurt me?" Flace sighed. "So maybe this will!" Midnight shouted as he jumped up behind Flace as he focused on Jellal. "Spiral Pain!" Midnight shouted. The air around Flace became distorted and trapped him in what felt like a vortex. Flace was hit by seemingly invisible hits of brute force and knocked Flace far back, leaving a trail in the ground. "Still not very strong," Flace sighed again.

"How does he have so much power?" Midnight thought as he landed back on the ground. "None of your attacks will ever hurt me," Flace explained. Jellal started to think, "Maybe if he can't feel the damage on the outside, it's possible it's doing internal damage to him. But if that's the case, what can I do?" "There's nothing you can do Jellal," Flace giggled. "Now your reading my thoughts, your power has at least tripled in size! How are you doing this?" Jellal asked.

"You can figure that out yourself…that's if you live long enough to realise," Flace said. "There's really no hope for us, he's far too strong…" Midnight thought. "That's right Midnight, cower in your fear, if I remember a while back Natsu and the others including Jellal were your enemies, where was your fear then? Or is it that now you finid someone in great superior strength to yourself you cower?" Flace teased.

Midnight stood up strong with his confidence back, "No, I'll never cower in fear, not to you or to anyone! I may have lost many fights but that'll never hold me back! There are many far superior in power to you, you're just all full of yourself like I was and trust when I say I know what that'll lead to you. You and the rest of your group may see yourself as Gods of power with this demon but nothing'll stop the rest of us! You're going down Flace!" Midnight shouted as he leaped towards him. "What should make you any different from what you were a moment ago?" Flace wondered.

"Nightmare!" He shouted. All around Flace appeared illusions, in front of himself he saw melted figures of his sister, "Interesting," Flace thought. He saw towering monsters over him, "Your illusions are sure impressive but it won't fool me!" Flace shouted as he looked around. "You can't see me, but you can hear me," Midnight chuckled. "It's quite weird isn't it? I can hear your thoughts and you can read my mind," Flace thought, knowing Midnight could see right through him.

"Stop hiding Midnight!" Flace shouted. He looked behind and saw Midnight jumping at him, "Nice try!" Flace shouted as he punched Midnight but his fist went straight through it. "A fake?" Flace thought in confusion, "One is Midnights illusions?" "Call me by my true name! Macbeth!" He shouted. "Invisible scythe!" Macbeth shouted as he dived past Flace. "How?!" Flace thought as he was hit by three seemingly invisible attacks and blasted back.

Jellal appeared out of seemingly nowhere and shouted, "Now it's my turn! Meteor!" Jellal pierced at light speed through Flace and dragged him along with him using his right fist. As he was dragged long Jellal let go and let Flace's body crash along the fall. He jumped high up into the air looking down at Flace and shouted, "Sema!" The already distraught sky formed a purple twist where a red light shined greatly, the light came closer and as it got closer it became clearer what it was. A flaming meteor and it was directed straight at Flace, it came close and smashed against the floor covering the surface which Flace was blasted to, creating a giant explosion that was eye-catching across the whole forest and even further.

Flace was caught in the centre of the explosion which created a giant crater in the ground at which Flace was at the bottom of. "Impressive," Flace grinned as he pulled himself up through the smoke of the meteor blast, "Maybe I need to try a little harder." "He still looks perfectly fine," Macbeth said. "It may look like it but we hit him with some devastating attacks, if it has made him step up his game now, that's bound to have done something internally as I suspected," Jellal explained.

"So, we have to find an opportunity and put all out efforts into our attacks, problem is though. Just doing this and we may tire out before we manage to beat him," Macbeth said. "That's if you even have enough strength to put me down, I haven't even shown you the far stretches of my power," Flace giggled. "Of course, there's more to him than what meets the eye," Jellal sighed.

Magic energy levels raised suddenly in Flace so much that you could see it flowing in and out of him which started to affect the ground on top of the effects it was already receiving from the distortion the demon's revival caused. Jellal noticed the distortion levels became so high that wherever they stepped, the footprint left the space that they had stepped on white. When they stepped over a part of the changed spot again it would turn back to black.

"What's happening with the floor?" Macbeth asked. "The distortions level in our area have increased so large that some parts of this area have lost control and aren't in sync with this worlds energy flow. If it gets too high then everything will lose control," Jellal explained. "So as long as we take out the source, everything will return back to normal then," Macbeth said as he glanced at Flace as the magic energy continued to flow in and out of him. "That's the plan," Jellal said as he took a step forward.

"You really believe you stand a chance now? How amusing," Flace grinned as the magic energy stopped flowing out of him. Jellal and Macbeth jumped towards Flace, all of a sudden, they were blasted back a great force coming from Flace. Jellal looked in shock as two wings were sprouting out of Flace, one black, one white with strange patterns on each wing. "Impossible," Jellal thought with his body trembling rapidly, "His power…has this much strength left in him?" "No, we…truly can't win, we should may as well give up now," Macbeth said as he fell to his knees.

The tips of Flace's wings were spiked as fell and seemed as if they could be shot out from the wing. Flace's wings flapped and lifted him up into the air with Macbeth and Jellal looking in awe. "How…are we supposed to come back…from this?" Jellal asked. "You don't!" Flace shouted a golden sphere blasted out of his wings and blasted Macbeth and Jellal back. Jellal was too shaken to move, his muscles tensioned up and froze him where he stood.

"What…is this…that I'm feeling?" Jellal thought, "And…why?" Flace charged forward and sliced with his wings past Jellal, cutting his skin. "This feeling you have! It's fear! And it just shows how truly weak you are!" Flace shouted as his wings spread. "Why? What is there even that we can do?" Macbeth thought. "Like I said, NOTHING!" Flace shouted as he dived towards Macbeth and picked him up by the neck.

"No…that can't be it!" Macbeth exclaimed as he tried to shake Flace off of him. "Oh, how funny it is to watch you struggle," Flace giggled. "I can't give up now," Jellal thought as he pushed himself up and saw Macbeth struggling. He jumped up towards them both at the highest speed he could reach without using meteor. "Sometimes it's best to just give up when you know you can't win!" Flace shouted as he threw Macbeth into Jellal, knocking them both back to the floor.

The spikes attached to Flace's wings all shot out at once and targeted them both. Macbeth saw them all coming to him and took this as his chance. He charged at them and jumped straight through them, using his reflector to stop them damaging him. Flace grinned at the sight, as Macbeth got closer to Flace he shouted, "Invisible scythe!" The three invisible hits blasted their way towards Flace but he raised his wings in front of himself and seemingly he didn't even flinch. As Macbeth was point blank with him, Flace's wings pushed back out and knocked Macbeth away again.

All of a sudden, while Macbeth was blasted back, Flace appeared in front of him and grabbed him by the neck for the second time. "You should be afraid of me as you were," Flace giggled with a devilish smile across his face. Macbeth let go of all weight in his body and let Flace's fingers stab into his neck. "Maybe you're right…maybe there is no hope for us," Macbeth barely pushed the words out of his throat.

"That's the attitude I'm looking for. You know, don't you? You know when to give up, you've suffered defeats before. Had people like Natsu show you where you belong!" Flace shouted as his fingers pushed deeper into Macbeth's throat. Jellal on the other had was hands and feet on the floor unable to move with the fear and raw power he could feel rising constantly in Flace. "Me on the other hand, I don't need to know when to give up because I'll never come to that, I'm too strong to let that happen to me!"

Macbeth had blood dripping down his mouth, "And when you don't know when to give up, you'll end up dying a worse death anyway, or in this case…a more painful one!" There was no comment from anyone, Flace looked down on Jellal and saw him unable to move, "It's your fear which is one of your weaknesses, the look of someone more powerful than yourself sends shivers down your spines, you don't know how to react and you just want to give up because you know there's nothing for you to do to win. Haha…how utterly pathetic of you."

Suddenly Macbeth gripped tightly onto Flace's arm and a sudden grin came across his face, "The thing that you don't know though, is when you're beat. With all this cocky attitude of yours you don't see the bigger picture." "Say what?" Flace said in confusion. "You know, there's an advantage you have to losing…you find someone more powerful than you, you can find your own flaws and amend them. Then…you can strive to beat them someday. Of course, in the case of Natsu, I know that'll never happen, it's like you said, there are just some people that you'll never beat…" Flace's grip loosened around Macbeth's neck and he was still in confusion processing Macbeth's words.

Jellal stood up strong on his two legs, "I have suffered many defeats, Natsu's given what I deserve and set me on the right track. If I never lost I would have never been set down the path I have gone now… Without losing you can never be who you're supposed to be!" Jellal shouted. "Blasphemy! A victory shows your strength, a loss shows you're weak! If you lose it'll show that you are nothing!" Flace exclaimed. "But the thing is, with a cocky attitude like yours, you'll never see what's coming from right under you," Macbeth grinned. Flace looked confused while staring at Macbeth who he still clenched in his hand.

From beneath he heard a shout, "Meteor!" Jellal shouted as he blasted through Flace and dragged him higher in the sky, dropping Macbeth. "That…hurt?" Flace thought as he kicked Jellal off of him. "It can't be…can their sheer determination pull them through this?" "We won't lose to you! Because we're stronger than you!" Jellal shouted. " _ **NOOOOOOOOOO, I WON'T LET YOU WIN!"**_ Flace shouted as his voice became more demonic sounding and his body became fully black with only a white core in the centre of his chest.

"So, his power stretched further yet again," Jellal sighed but kept his calm. "We can do this," Macbeth reassured. "Giving up now would just be a let down now things are getting really interesting," Jellal grinned. "You don't think we're getting a little bit too carless now?" Macbeth asked. "It doesn't matter, now that we've made it this far I just want to end this fight at last."

Jellal and Macbeth charged towards Flace who had seemingly lost all control of himself and the distortion levels were at their peek limits. "This gets even further then all three of us will be erased by this," Jellal explained as their run up to Flace was seemingly endless. "The effects of the distortion are certainly visible, what's even happening to him?" Macbeth asked. "I think right now his power bond between Sunjlie has gone out of control and he's received a giant boost in power which is over his limits," Jellal suggested. "So, if it's over his limits, it's what's also causing the distortion to reach its max," Macbeth added.

All of a sudden Flace appeared in front of them even though he was seemingly so far away a moment ago. On closer inspection there was blood dripping down Flace's body and he now had some black steel armour around his body replacing his original clothes. "The darkness inside him is affecting his body on the outside as well," Macbeth thought. _**"DIE,"**_ Flace uttered as he grabbed onto both Macbeth and Jellal by their heads and threw them apart from each other.

 _ **LET'S SEE HOW YOU CAN HANDLE YOURSELF ON YOUR OWN,"**_ Flace grinned as the blood poured down from his mouth. "He's going to die himself if he keeps up the way he's going, he may be our enemy but I can't just let him die like this can I?" Jellal and Macbeth both thought. Both of the wings on Flace had even turned black each one fired black darts at the person they were facing. Macbeth managed to use his reflector to go through the darts but they looped back around and stabbed him in the back which left him stunned for a while.

Flace quickly rushed up to Macbeth with a dark sword forming in his hand as he swept past Macbeth slicing him straight across the chest and making him drop to the floor. As Macbeth was attacked Jellal used meteor and forcefully pushed through the projectiles and pierced with his first into the back of Flace but it did nothing to him. Flace glanced around at Jellal and grabbed him before making him slide across the ground head first.

While both Jellal and Macbeth were down, Flace flew high in the air looking down on them, _**"LET'S END THIS NOW!"**_ Flace beckoned. A large black sphere formed in Flace's hands, _**"DARKNESS VOID!"**_ Flace launched the sphere down at Jellal and Macbeth. The initial impact didn't hurt at all but the darkness when impacted with the ground spread across the area they were in. "What is this?" Jellal thought as he wasn't seeing things as they should be.

Jellal and Macbeth now couldn't see from long distances, all they could see was things within a one-meter distance of themselves. Flace dropped down and the white crystal in his chest glowed ever brighter. While they were partially blinded Flace constantly sneaked around and hit Jellal and Macbeth from angles they wouldn't suspect. "Things won't turn out well like this," Jellal thought, "Concentrate and figure out where he'll strike you next."

Jellal stopped moving and stood still as he concentrated on his senses, he could hear Flace moving about a lot and even teleporting to try and fake him out but he saw past that. Jellal heard a strong force coming from behind so he stuck out his arm and was prepared to block a punch but nothing happened. _**"WRONG CHOICE,"**_ Flace said. Jellal quickly turned around though and blocked the punch from the front.

Jellal could see Flace clearly now and he gripped his arm tightly. "Meteor!" Jellal shouted as he pierced point blank through Flace and knocked him to the floor. Everyone's vision became clear again. _**"THIS CAN'T BE!"**_ Flace exclaimed as he pushed himself up. "It's now or never," Macbeth said as he charged forward. Macbeth pounced towards Flace as he was vulnerable. As Macbeth was point blank with Flace there was a black blast that separated the two of them.

" _ **I WON'T LOSE NOW!"**_ Flace shouted. "STOP BEING SO RESELIENT!" Macbeth shouted as he pounced immediately back. "Can't you see it's over for you now!" Jellal shouted as he pounced towards Flace as well. Flace had a fist with a dark aura in hand and punched at Macbeth but it went straight through him. "Falling for the same trick three times? How pathetic!" Macbeth shouted as he used his invisible scythe to blast Flace up from beneath.

Jellal was beneath him directly and shouted, "Meteor!" as he was surrounded by a shield of magic energy and pieced directly up with Flace, high into the air. "IT'S OVER!" Jellal shouted as he kicked Flace downwards. Jellal looked directly down and saw how high he was up in the air before began to fall faster. "Meteor!" Jellal shouted again as he fell to speed himself up, catching up to Flace while moving at such an impossible speed. "YOU'RE DONE!" Jellal shouted as he pieced straight into Flace and smashed him into the ground at light speed. There was a giant crater from where Jellal did the attack, when the smoke faded, Jellal's fist was where the white crystal had been and he shattered it as he had smashed Flace into the ground.

Jellal stood up breathing heavily with blood dripping down his hand, Flace's body glowed bright and it changed back to its original state. "That was one heck of a fight eh?" Macbeth grinned. Jellal breathed a sigh of relief that the fight was over and pulled himself out of the crater before taking a look around to see the area changing back to its original state. "Let's take a rest before we move along," Jellal panted as he laid down on the ground. "Sounds good to me," Macbeth panted as he laid down as well.

"So I see yet another has been taken down, what a shame," Medusa sighed. "So Flace was defeated even with the joint strength of my power, these people must be stronger than I suspected, "Sunjlie sighed with a face of guilt for her brothers defeat. "Things may be going a little down for us but it is just as bad for them, so we can take this as our chance to wipe them all out while they're weak," Dusk suggested.

"Not too bad of an idea but keep in mind they're recovering as we speak so when we go to fight them they won't be as weak as you'd suspect," Medusa explained. Medusa heard movement in the trees behind them, "So you were unsuccessful in retrieving him Sky?" Medusa asked as she glanced behind to see Sky standing there. "He managed to slip between my fingers, luckily I don't think he got away clean?" Sky explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Sunjlie asked. "I've been sensing a high dark magic level from an enemy, not one of us." Sky said. "So then, something interesting must have happened and it most likely happened to my beloved Rycu," Medusa grinned. "Since his dark magic levels are rising so fast, it's easy for me to track it," Sky explained. Hearing that made Medusa even happier.

"Sky, bring Rycu to me alive, he has a bigger use to us than what I ever suspected."


	99. I'm Here Now

Lucy and Leo continued forward with Leo carrying Rycu over his shoulder who was still out cold from when Lucifer transferred the dark magic into his body. Lucy glanced back at Rycu with a worried look, "He' not awake yet?" Leo shook his head, "There's been nothing from him, no movement or anything." "Yet he's still alive the way he is?" Lucy thought. "Whatever happened to him must have hit him hard but he's still alive," Leo said.

"Please be ok Rycu," Lucy sighed as she looked forward and saw the guild hall in the distance. "We're getting closer then?" Leo asked. "Yes, let's just get inside, we'll be safe in there for a while till Rycu wakes up hopefully," Lucy explained. "What if they find us?" Leo asked. "Then we'll fight if we have to," Lucy said. "But there's still quite a few of them left, what makes you think we'll be able to take them out before or during the demon's revival?" Leo asked.

"I don't really know honestly how we'll do this…but since last time the number has ticked down again which shows another one has been taken out," Lucy explained. "So which ones do you think are left?" "Well, we know that Rycu, Natsu and possibly Gray have taken out one and from my suspicions, all that chaos happening could have been the battle from Jellal and Flace which has now gone dormant. So from my guess it'll be, Medusa, Sky, Dusk and Sunjlie left," Lucy explained. "So another four left," Leo sighed. "But that means we've taken down four anyway," Lucy said. "And we've all been weakened down, anyways, it's clearly present that Sky and Medusa are even stronger than the others."

Lucy continued forward until she was right outside of the guild doors. "Well, we may as well use this place now we're here," Leo sighed. Lucy slowly pushed the door open as she heard it creak. Inside there was nothing, the guild hall was completely empty with only the light from the outside being visible through the clear glass on the roof. Leo walked in and placed Rycu's body down of the floor, "We can let him rest here now, hopefully he'll recover soon enough."

"You think he'll be fine then?" Lucy asked. "Well, he's not gonna be in best condition but he'll be fine for now," Leo said. Lucy knelt down next to Rycu's body and pulled him close to her to keep him warm, "His body's getting colder." Leo looked down at this floor anxiously, "Just try to keep his body warm for now." Lucy looked down of Rycu nervously, "Always putting yourself before others…you've protected us, now it's time we protect you," Lucy said as she squeezed Rycu tighter to her chest.

"What are we going to do when we start moving again?" Leo asked. "I don't know yet but just concentrate on keeping us safe here for now, when the time comes we'll just have to try and find the others out there," Lucy explained. "Well then, lets just take a rest for now," Leo said as he sat down looking out of the guild doors.

"So, Makarov, who was that Hilda girl back there? And what kind of ties does she have to Rycu?" Laxus asked. "Hilda is a humanoid demon, her ties with Rycu go far back but I shall not tell you. That's only something you'll find out from Rycu himself," Makarov explained. "How come you know then?" Gildarts asked. "He's told me this information already, me and Hilda ourselves have ties back from years ago. Maybe Rycu will tell you another time but for now I need to protect him from when he gets back," Makarov explained. "And if he doesn't even make it back?" Wakaba asked. "I don't know, all I can do is hope it doesn't come to that."

"That's why we need to send more of us over there and help take them out!" Laxus complained. "I told you, they're capable of winning this fight on their own," Makarov said. "Your faith isn't all they need to win! Their power isn't unlimited as it seems what you think!" Laxus exclaimed. Makarov stopped talking and the conversation quickly stopped. The lacrima in front of Makarov began to glow, "Someone is by a lacrima?" Makarov quickly activated the lacrima.

The centre of the room that Leo and Lucy were in with Rycu suddenly had a large projection appear. They could see Makarov in the projection and it was the other way around for the guild hall. "Makarov?" Lucy asked while she glanced up at the projection but still holding onto Rycu tightly. "Well it does seem as you managed to get to safety did you not?" Makarov asked.

"Partly, we managed to free ourselves from the light and escape. As I was running I found Rycu but he was knocked out cold, I don't know who or what caused it but his body's getting colder by the second," Lucy explained. "I see, how is the progress with the demon revival?" Makarov asked. "It pretty much complete, there's no averting it now, all we'll be able to do is send it back once it's through, as for the dark wizards, there's still roughly four of them left while the other four have been take out by the others," Leo explained.

"Do you know about the others?" Laxus asked as he stood by the lacrima, listening to the conversation. "I don't know at the moment, but we're fine at least for the moment, we're just trying to rest up again before moving and I'm warming up Rycu's body. Makarov nodded his head, "Keep safe child we're looking into this demon as well." The hologram abruptly closed off and the two groups continued independently.

"You see? Things aren't going as great as you think," Laxus sighed as he stood up and walked out the front guild doors. "Just leave him be for now," Makarov sighed. "What are we going to do about this then?" Macao asked. "Nothing, their fate is in their hands," Makarov said. "What do you think's happening to Rycu though? You heard what she said, he's out cold and his body is getting colder by the second," Gildarts asked. "I have my suspicions, but it's nothing I can confirm yet," Makarov said.

"Do you see anything?" Carla asked as she held Wendy up in the air. "Nothing yet," Wendy sighed. "I'll have to put you down now, my wings hurt too much to carry you anymore," Carla explained as she flew Wendy down to the floor and dropped her near the ground. "Didn't you see those giant explosions earlier?" Wendy asked. "Yes I did, clearly they got into a climactic fight but it seems as if it has died down since then," Carla sighed.

They both stopped moving, "Where should we go next then?" Wendy asked. "We should go find some of the others probably, maybe we should head back to the guild hall, I'm pretty sure there was a lacrima there so we can use that to contact Ichiya anyway since he had one," Carla explained. "That's our best lead at the moment anyway so let's head back for now," Wendy said as Carla gripped onto Wendy's back and managed to fly her back into the air.

All of a sudden, they were hit by a strong, thick wall of sand which knocked them back to the floor. "What the?" Wendy thought as she looked up to see Dusk right before herself. "That's…one of the d-dark…w-w-wizards, right?" Wendy stuttered as she backed up in fear after being attacked so suddenly. "Look what I've found," Dusk giggled as he took a step towards Wendy.

No words came out of Wendy's mouth, "Not a talker eh? You're not worth wasting anytime on!" Dusk shouted as he pointed forward and a think wall of sand surrounded Wendy and a gust of sand blasted Carla away. The sand kept turning into thick clumps that were as dense as stone and smashed against Wendy. She was blasted through the floor by a gust of sand and was unable to get up as Dusk stepped before her.

"Who the hell are you?" Wendy asked as she slowly began to heal her newly received wounds. "I'm Dusk, one of the dark wizards, there's only half of us left thanks to your rowdy bunch of friends, so we'll take all of you out one by one effortlessly while the demon does its work," Dusk explained. Wendy kicked Dusk away from her and stood up tall again, "No, I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

"Is this a challenge? Ha, watch me end this in a minute or less!" Dusk shouted as he leaped towards Wendy before she could react. She was punched straight across the face and slid a across the floor. A sandstone pillar appeared beneath Wendy and suddenly smashed Wendy into the air. Dusk pointed his hand forward and all the sand around Dusk formed into a giant sandstone hammer above Wendy and smashed her into the floor.

"Pathetically weak, then again, you're just a mere child!" Dusk shouted as he leaped forward to Wendy with his fist at the ready. Wendy closed her eyes and braced for the impact. Dusk was suddenly blasted back with a strike of fire, "What?" Dusk thought. He looked forward to see Erza stand before him using her Flame Empress armour to burn him and with Gajeel and Natsu standing just behind.

"I see, I was hoping I'd come across you again," Dusk grinned. "Natsu, Gajeel, get Wendy out of here, I can handle Dusk by myself," Erza demanded. "Whatever you say, just don't die on me now," Natsu grinned. The rest of them rushed off while Erza stayed behind to fight, "I've been waiting to get my payback on you," Erza said. "Oh, don't think I'm going to go any easier on you than last time," Dusk said.

"Gajeel, help get Wendy back to the guild hall, I'll go ahead and find Medusa and handle her myself," Natsu said. "Are you sure about that? Medusa will hand your ass to you," Gajeel said. "That doesn't matter, she's the source of our problems so I'm going straight for the heart of this disaster," Natsu said confidently. "Fine," Gajeel sighed as he picked up Wendy and began to go for the guild hall, "I'll carry you," Gajeel insisted as he saw a great injury on her leg which she struggled to move with.

Lucy was still gripping onto Rycu trying to keep him warmer put he kept feeling colder and colder, "I don't get it," Lucy sighed, "What's happening to Rycu and why?" "I'm just as clueless as you," Leo said as he stared out the Guild door. "What can we do? What if he dies?" Lucy asked. "I don't know…but I'm sure he won't die, no way he'd die so easily," Leo said. Lucy looked down on Rycu anxiously and closed her eyes, "Please…don't die on me now Rycu," Lucy whispered in Rycu's ear while he was still unconscious.

He was still motionless, and he was still getting colder and colder. Leo suddenly stood up and looked carefully out the guild doors, "What is it?" Lucy asked. Leo looked intently, "I think I heard someone, I'd be cautious if I were you." Lucy got an uneasy feeling, "Something isn't right. I'm sensing something weird…but powerful."

"This certainly isn't good, we should certainly brace ourselves for the worst," Leo explained. Lucy let go of Rycu and rested his body on the floor while standing up. "I don't understand, the magic energy I'm feeling is uncontrollable, it's managing to influence my flow of magic energy as well," Leo thought in utter confusion.

Lucy and Leo dragged their eyes away from the guild doors and looked around in confusion. They heard a giggle and looked towards the guild doors where Sky stood.

"I've found you now."


	100. Possession

_**Here you go! Chapter 100! I know my chapters tend to be short and not of the best quality but I just want to make a short pleasing ready for you all, even if some chapters don't turn out that way. (Especially at the beginning of the story, those chapters were utterly terrible as is, at least I believe I have greatly improved since the older times)**_

"Sky?" Lucy said in shock. "Why, yes, it is me, you know it quite rude to not give a polite response," Sky grinned as she looked at her long smooth black leather gloves which where completely covered up to her wrists by her long sleeved white dress which got wider the closer further down the sleeve went and it was open and wide towards the bottom. Under the bottom of her white dress you could also see her long black leather boots.

"Why are you here?" Lucy asked. "Come on, you know why I'm here, no need to play dumb," Sky grinned as she glanced at Rycu. "If you think I'll give up Rycu to you then you have another thing coming!" Lucy exclaimed. "If I don't get him peacefully I'll have no choice but to use some more forceful methods, it'll of course be fun for me though not you. "Trust me when I say I'm prepared for the worst from you," Lucy said determined. "This'll be too fun," Sky smiled. "I'm not afraid of you!" Lucy exclaimed. "That's good for me because that lets me know you won't hold back with what measly power you possess," Sky said. Sky stretched her fingers out to prepare herself.

Lucy seemed a little nervous as Sky's power all of a sudden drastically rose, "Where did all this power come from?" There was a sudden light movement from Rycu's body and Lucy looked in shock as she saw Rycu stand up straight. "How peculiar, he was out cold mere seconds ago and now he seems perfectly fine, maybe it's mine and his supreme forces of magic energy colliding, causing him to suddenly awake. His power has increased indeed," Sky thought. "So what'll happen now?" Lucy asked Rycu. As Rycu went past he whispered, "Run," and shoved her backwards.

Lucy looked in confusion, "Run?" Rycu stopped walking until he was directly in front of Sky, they stared eye-to-eye. "So are we ending this now or what?" Sky asked. Lucy did what Rycu told her to do, "I'm…sorry Rycu," Lucy whispered as she put Leo back in his key and dashed out of the guild doors with a single tear pouring down her cheek. Sky didn't even attempt to stop Lucy, "So you're letting them run and you stay behind? That certainly makes my job a lot easier."

Rycu's body felt weak as it was anyway, never mind the fact that Sky was one of the strongest. Sky grabbed Rycu by his neck and held him up in the air, "You'll certainly be something fun to play around with," Sky chuckled as she threw Rycu into the ground and caused his body to slide across the floor headfirst. Rycu pulled himself and coughed a little black blood up on the floor, "My blood…" Sky grabbed a sharp piece of stone and held Rycu against the wall, she cut the stone across his check and he bled red blood.

"How interesting," Sky said, "You bleed red yet cough black." Sky grabbed Rycu's wrist and smashed him into the floor with it. Rycu stood up again, Sky walked over to Rycu who also showed no sign of retaliation, Sky stared deep into Rycu's eyes. "Light out," Sky said as she punched upwards at Rycu's stomach, knocking him out. Sky walked to Rycu's unconscious body, "There are things planned for you," she pulled out two pieces of glowing rope which was so long it dropped to the floor when she pulled it out.

She knelt down next to Rycu's body and tied the rope around his arms and legs. She picked Rycu up and flung him around her shoulder before exiting the guild hall.

Lucy looked back and saw she had run far enough so stopped and regained her breath, "What are you doing?" Leo asked as he opened his own gate and appeared in front of her, "A second ago you were full of so much confidence and was read to fight, all of a sudden you cower and flee?" Lucy looked down to the floor with guilt, "She…has so much more power than I expected, I couldn't control myself, I was afraid," she said as a tear rolled down her eye.

Leo looked away and sighed, "So they have possession of Rycu again, who the hell knows what they plan to do with him next." Leo turned back around to face Lucy, "We have to get Rycu back as soon as we can before it's too late, whatever they're doing is changing him." Lucy looked in confusion, "What do you mean?" "Think back to the start of this mission, think about how his presence has changed, to me, he seems to have been filled up with more despair while Medusa had possession of him, or at the least something has caused him to turn that way," Leo explained.

Lucy thought back, when she thought of it, he certainly was different, not the fact that he was angry because of the battle, or that he was losing hope. But his presence alone had something dark about it now or twisted. "What have they been doing to him," Lucy thought. Suddenly a thought sprung to mind. "What if when Rycu first came into contact with the ray of light, the demon influenced him since he connected with it for a second," Lucy suggested. "Well it's certainly more plausible than anything else I could come up with. "Let's just get a move on and try to find some of the others," Lucy ordered.

A sudden light appeared in front of Lucy and exploded, blasting her back, "Who says you'll be going anywhere," A person giggled as they came out of hiding to show it was none other than Sunjlie. "Well at least it appears I'll finally get a shot at taking some revenge, "Lucy sighed as she saw her approach. "I'll finish you off now, I say it's about time that we start to wrap things up at last," Sunjlie said. "Like hell," Lucy said.

"We now have possession of Rycu once again and your allies are being taken down one by one, there's no hope for you now," Sunjlie said. "You people just keep saying the same thing," Lucy sighed, "Shame that your all talk, none of our allies are out of commission yet other than Rycu who we will get back from you no matter what." "Are you so sure? How can they fight on once they've been turned to purely stone," Sunjlie grinned. Lucy looked in confusion, "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Medusa has already managed to take out your two beloved friends Gray and Leon with no effort, she happily turned them into stone and has them as a kind of trophy if you will, not for long though. Once all is done she'll happily shatter them to pieces," Sunjlie teased. Lucy looked in shock and didn't know how to react, "Don't worry, it probably works like Evergreen's stone magic. As long as we take out Medusa they'll be fine," Leo explained.

Lucy quickly regained her confidence and stood back up strong, "I see, then there's nothing I should be afraid of. The stakes are this high so I won't go easy on you." "Ditto," Sunjlie grinned. "Leo, close your gate, I have my own way of dealing with this," Lucy ordered. "Whatever you say, just don't get yourself killed now," Leo said as he disappeared. "Is someone getting a little cocky?" Sunjlie wondered as she realised Lucy wasn't opening up any other gates. "Don't you go getting confident, I don't need my keys to handle you now," Lucy said.

Rycu slowly opened his eyes and could see clearly again but with his vision shaking every step Sky took. Rycu tried to move his arms and legs but he quickly realised they were tied up, hand with hand, leg with leg. "Lucy is for certain safe now, so I need to escape myself now that I've properly recovered," Rycu thought. Rycu took a deep breath in to build up his magic energy, "If I use my roar I should lose her grip then I can break these ropes off more easily, then I can either fight or escape."

Rycu was about to let his roar out but as soon as he was going to he was slammed against the ground which interrupted his charge. Sky's gloved hand quickly slid over Rycu's moth which stopped him from breathing out fire. "And what do you think you're doing," Sky grinned at Rycu as she tightly gripped onto his mouth. "Don't think I'll let you escape so easily," Sky gave a devilish grin. Rycu couldn't move at all, even Sky's grip on his mouth left him unable to move his lips whatsoever.

Sky let go of Rycu's mouth and slid her arm across his neck until she was at her elbow joint where she bet it to squeeze Rycu's neck, while she did this she also but her other hand back tightly over Rycu's mouth to stop him from trying anything. Sky had a huge grin on her face as Rycu struggled to breath, "Having a little bit of trouble?" she teased. She held on for a while and before Rycu lost consciousness Sky dropped him with him gasping for air on the floor.

Sky pulled out a white cloth and wrapped it round Rycu's mouth and tied a knot with it to keep it on tight. "Try anything like that again and you'll get it worse," Sky grinned as she stomped on Rycu's back with her heels. "Did you really think I didn't consider the fact that you may try something? I know you of all people wouldn't give yourself up like that. At least you provided me with a little bit of entertainment, I try my best to give you as much pain as you deserve which in your case…it's too fun not to go all out and almost kill you with it. Trust me when I say I could have done much worse to you so I'd be on your best behaviour now and try not to piss me off anymore or I may go that extra mile just for you next time, even if that makes Medusa mad at me." Sky picked Rycu back up and continued to walk along.

Eventually after a long walk, Sky pushed through some bushes and saw Medusa sitting there waiting for her. "So you were successful this time," Medusa grinned as she looked at Rycu's tied up body. Sky tossed Rycu's body to the floor all battered and beaten, "I see you did a little extra to him," Medusa noticed. "I had to have a little fun of my own with him," Sky giggled.

Sky undid the rope around Rycu's legs and pulled the cloth around Rycu's mouth down. "So I finally come face-to-face with you again," Rycu sighed. "Oh how I've missed you," Medusa said as she stood up and walked over to Rycu eye-to-eye. "I won't let this end the way you want it to, I won't let you win," Rycu said. "Your resilience is starting to get on my nerves, I think it's time you had a rest Rycu," Medusa grinned as she bit into Rycu's neck with her shark fangs.

Rycu let out a cry of pain as he could feel Medusa sucking out some of his blood while also having different blood flow into his body through Medusa, he fell to his knees, feeling the great pain. Sky held Rycu still as Medusa bit him since Rycu began to move so frantically. As Medusa was sucking Rycu's blood, she was also strengthening the darkness bonds in his body. Medusa stopped biting his neck and licked her lips with blood dripping down her mouth. "This'll take a while for certain, Sky, go out and take out any enemy you see, I'll be doing this for a while longer," Medusa explained. Sky headed out with no further questions. Medusa sat down and cuddled Rycu's weak body next to her as she once again sunk her fangs back into Rycu's neck.

"There's no more need to worry anymore Rycu, I will bare you from this pain once all is done."


	101. A Shadow Of The Truth

_**Sorry that this is quite a bland chapter compared to the rest, I kinda had to inspiration for this chapter and didn't really know where to move next so just bare with what it is for now, I'll try to spice it up within the next few chapters**_

Rycu could barely feel his neck as Medusa mixed his blood, it felt so numb as she dug into it with her fangs. Rycu couldn't even move his body as Medusa gripped onto him tightly, while he was unable to do anything else, he began to think. "Acnologia," He thought, "Way back when, when I fought him, something felt odd if I remember correctly. Something to do with his power…he felt week than in the past, when I first saw him. His magical presence felt weaker than before didn't it? My body didn't shiver as much as the first time even, he should have gotten more powerful over weaker…that's unless…

Rycu didn't want to believe what he was thinking, "That's unless it wasn't Acnologia," Rycu's mind took a turn for the worst, there's no way, if it wasn't Acnologia then what was it? More importantly, where is he now then? He'll come back to kill me sometime, I know it," Rycu stopped thinking for a moment. He began to panic a little on the inside, "If I don't find a way to stop Medusa fast enough, he'll get here first and wipe us all out…I need to handle him myself or…at the least, lure him away far enough, but first I need to handle Medusa.

Medusa could sense Rycu's worry, "Something the matter?" Medusa said with a grin as she took her fangs out of Rycu's neck. He ignored her, "No need to be so rude when someone's worried about you," Medusa grinned as she grabbed Rycu's head to face him towards her. "I can sense the distress in you, so what is it you're worried about because I know for certain it isn't me from the cocky attitude you have around me," Medusa explained. "It's nothing that'll matter to you, after all, you'll end up dead by the time this is all over," Rycu answered.

Medusa grabbed Rycu by his head and threw him into the floor as she stood back up, wiping the blood away from her mouth which she'd received from the link she'd made with Rycu. "You're really trying your best to get on my nerves aren't you," Medusa sighed as she kicked Rycu in the stomach again which caused him to cough out blood. Rycu glared at it as it was completely black, "I see, the trading of my black blood caused you to circulate it as far as to even bleed it now, at the least it's strengthening your dark magic in your body," Medusa explained.

"This isn't good, if it circulates too far, it'll come to the point where I can't control myself and I'll do unthinkable things," Rycu thought as he let his imagination run wild. Medusa stomped her foot on Rycu's back with great force almost shattering his bones to pieces instantly as it didn't help for her to keep pushing after the initial hit she delivered. Medusa let go of Rycu and let him lay there, Rycu was slowly gaining back some of his energy he could feel as he was now able to move a little as demon stated as he slowly managed to push himself up and lean against a tree as the ropes behind his back were pulled off by Medusa after she hit him.

"So, you're quickly regaining back your strength, I wonder if your power rivals mine, then again, we have the same power source, don't we?" Medusa grinned as she stepped towards Rycu again and pinned him by the neck up against the tree. Rycu looked confused by the previous statement she made, Medusa leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. Rycu was stunned and confused, Medusa let go of his neck and stepped back. Rycu grabbed his neck where it was progressively stinging and dropped to the floor while still laying against the tree, "It'll hurt for a while but once all is done, you won't have to feel pain anymore, I'll be the one to bare it for you," Medusa explained.

She kneeled down to the floor in front of Rycu and edge towards him and stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. Rycu tried to push her off of him but she grabbed his wrist and smashed it against the tree before biting back into his neck once more and continuing the circulation of their blood. Rycu let out a cry of agony and he became unable to move once again as Medusa gripped him. "There's not much longer left now," Medusa thought.

Laxus walked down the market street with his head all muddled up, "Who is this Hilda girl? And what is her relation with Rycu or at least what did Rycu do to piss her off this badly? I need to find this reason behind all this before she goes and does something to get Rycu in trouble." Laxus looked up to the giant building in front of him which was giant, it was a clocktower and every tick it made was ear shattering for some, "They really got to get this clock fixed as well, it'll make people's ear bleed."

"Laxus!" A voice shouted from behind him. "Well I guess he's equally as annoying," Laxus sighed as he looked back to see Happy flying up to him. "Laxus where are you going?" Happy asked as he floated in front of him. "I'm finding out all the information I need myself if Gramps is unwilling to spread any light to the situation. Aren't you supposed to be resting up anyway? You exhausted yourself and your magic energy," Laxus asked.

"I did rest up, compared to you wizards, mages or slayers, Exceed's take much less time to recover. Aren't you injured anyway so why aren't you resting up?" Happy explained. "The wounds weren't too bad, they healed up quickly which is why I'm going to find this girl myself since I'm at the ready," Laxus explained. "Well, since I can't stop you probably, I'll at least come and help you!" Happy exclaimed. "Sure, whatever," Laxus sighed as he walked on forward through the market.

People began to push past Laxus as they were buying their essentials or luxury items to please themselves. "It's quite a busy market today eh?" Laxus said. "Well, it's getting towards Christmas time now and it's going to get quite cold and snowy, I think people are preparing in case of any storms that'll keep them in. Then again, it'll get even busier soon since everyone's buying gifts for each other," Happy answered. "It's December anyway so I'd say we're in the time for freezing weather," Laxus sighed as he glanced to some people wearing extremely thick coats over themselves.

Laxus moved up to one of the stores and grabbed an apple before tossing a coin over to the shop owner to pay for it. "Anything for me?" Happy asked. "You can go get your own things, Natsu is supposed to be the one who gets fish for you, not me, besides, fish isn't exactly popular in this market around now," Laxus said. "But all the lakes become frozen cold and all the fish go away until it's right for them," Happy complained. "Try to eat something other than fish for once then," Laxus said.

"You're such a meanie," Happy murmured as he turned his back away from Laxus, "No wonder Natsu had to beat you up way back when." "But we've moved past that," Laxus said as he took a bite out of his apple. Happy glanced over to Laxus, "I know I was a terrible person back then, but try to judge me for who I am now, I'll do anything to fight for Fairy Tail rather than against it. I said some pretty horrible stuff, was power crazy, I wanted to see an end to Gramps' reign as guild master and take it for my own before setting it on a new course which of course would have lead to disaster if Natsu had not stepped in and taken me out. I never want to see an end to Gramps' reign now, he's perfect, but I know that day will eventually come, we all know that for God's sake. After him though, I don't want to take over, I'll mess things all up again," Laxus explained as he stopped in his tracks.

"Then who do you think will take over as guild master?" Happy asked. "I think the best choice would be Erza personally, she has all the qualities she would require. She's brave and determined, she'd sacrifice herself for others, she's wise and she's a leader. It wouldn't make sense not to pick her of all things," Laxus said. Happy thought about it, "Well Lucy wouldn't be reliable, Gray would keep stripping at meetings and Natsu's just crazy. So, what about Rycu?" "I don't know, he's just got this weird feeling around him and we don't know a lot about him yet. Besides, he's not been here long enough to take a position like that, he needs more time for us to understand him," Laxus explained.

Laxus looked around before he suddenly realised the ticking of the clock tower had stopped, he looked up and he saw a handle flying down, "What the?" Laxus quickly evaded out the way of it and it smashed into the floor followed by the second one landing in the centre of a bunch of shops. Laxus looked up to the clock tower which was now missing a part of their handles and saw a familiar figure standing up there, "It's that Hilda again isn't it? And she managed to tear a part of the handles off? With her bare hands?" Happy looked in shock at the giant handle before Laxus turned around to face him, "Evacuate everyone quickly and go warn Makarov that she's back causing havoc again." Happy quickly flew off to go help and shouted, "Come back in one piece at least!" As he flew off.

Laxus quickly jumped over to the other clock handle piece and lifted it up to help trapped people get out. Laxus dropped the handle again and everything went silent before he knew it, he looked up to Hilda as she glared down at him with a grin on her face, "So you're here now are you?" Hilda beckoned. "Give me the answers!" Laxus demanded. "You're quite blunt to try and have a conversation with, anyway, what answers could you mean?" Hilda asked sarcastically. "Don't play dumb with me! You know what I specifically want! Who wrote that book on the dark wizards!" Laxus shouted.

"It's quite interesting how dumb you scum can really be, even a braindead worm could figure it out faster than you!" Hilda chuckled to herself. "Who is it!" Laxus shouted. "Why of course, it's the one and only great dark wizard himself Zeref! He studied the group for a long time to figure them out, he found out all their weaknesses and strengths and even took them all on at once, defeating them all effortlessly on his own with neither with his two original strongest August nor Eileen!" "Original strongest?" Laxus asked. "Well, Zeref's army has greatly improved over time, now those two are seen as weaklings to the rest. Even the so called, 'King of magic', how amusing."

"He has that whole army at the ready then? Could he be plotting something to attack us so suddenly?" Laxus thought. "As generations further, so do the strength of wizards, only thing is, Zeref's seen many generations from start to finish which allows his power to grow humongous on scale. It's one reason why you'll never match his power. Same goes simply for Acnologia, except on an even bigger scale, dragons like Acnologia are able to live on for an unlimited amount of time which is why he's the strongest of dragons. His power grows at such pace and can never truly be matched," Hilda explained.

"But I thought Acnologia was killed now?" "He was never, the Acnologia you believed to have been killed was simply a shadow, a small fraction of his whole power which is ever-growing at this rate, there's no way that you'll ever have enough power to match him, NEVER. Even through your most extreme training, his power grows at a much faster rate which not even your friends like Rycu could ever keep up with." "All the progress we thought we made, was literally nothing other than an illusion…" Laxus thought

"You've made me chatter on for too long, so I'll have to dish out the pain twice as fast to get the job done," Hilda grinned. "I thought I could hold her off for a little longer till Gramps got here, looks like I'll have to hold her off some more," Laxus thought as he bent his knees. Hilda leaped off of the great clocktower directed straight at Laxus. He leaped into the air aiming at Hilda as they jumped at each other at great speeds. Hilda's demon hand on her right released.

"Feel the might of my power!"


	102. Venom

_**Hope you do this chapter! I even had to do some research with science for this chapter ;)**_

Laxus focused his eyes on Hilda's demon hands which she had both active. "Since you dare to oppose me I shall crush you to get you out of my way!" Hilda shouted as she grabbed Laxus and threw him into the clocktower building. "What do you seriously want?!" Laxus demanded as he boosted out of the clocktower building and punched Hilda aside. "I wouldn't like to fight you, the person I want is Rycu but as you are blocking my path I'll have no choice but to kill you with my demon hands," Hilda sighed.

"Well you'll have to kill me first before you can get to him, besides, Rycu's far away from here and you aren't even strong enough to kill him!" Laxus shouted. "Well this time it'll be a different outcome," Hilda muttered as she rushed towards Laxus again. Laxus ducked under the swipe of her demon hand then rolled out the way as she crashed down her other hand down at the floor.

Hilda's eyes met with Laxus' and she had the momentum to push herself forward and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards herself. Laxus glanced back at Hilda as he could feel her grabbing onto him as he was smashed into the floor with great force and kicked forward. "I'll tell you what, if you give up now and let me beat you up to a pulp, I'll at the least spare your life and move along…and I will spare the rest of the peoples lives. Otherwise, I'll go on a killing spree, it certainly won't disrupt me," Hilda explained.

Laxus looked back at Hilda in shock, "You wouldn't go that far?" "I certainly would," Hilda grinned. Laxus thought, "She could easily be lying but…she's a demon, she doesn't have a care in the world for the good of people, I can't risk something as great as this can I?" Laxus stood up and didn't move further, "Go on then, keep to your promise, move along and leave the people alone," Laxus sighed.

Hilda walked over to Laxus and whispered into his ear, "You're so gullible." He looked in confusion and was blasted back as Hilda punched him directly in his gut with great force. "You really think I have the slightest part of mercy left in me? I'll get to Rycu no matter how many of you I have to cut through," Hilda grinned looking insane. Laxus looked up at her with a small slither of blood dripping down his mouth.

Hilda took a step forward before letting out a cry of pain and falling onto her hands and knees as she was attacked from behind. She could feel a large scratch across her back which bled down and when she and Laxus both looked to behind her, they saw Eileen standing there with blood on her sharp claws. "Eileen?" Laxus thought. "Who, why?" Hilda muffled. "If you think I'll ever let you get through to my son and kill him, I'll happily strike you down and kill you with no mercy," Eileen said with a deathly voice.

"So, you're that brat's mother," Hilda sighed as she stood back up, ignoring the blood dripping down her back. "You dare threaten Rycu?" Eileen said. "You dare protect that brat after what he did," Hilda said. "You should know the truth already and Rycu did nothing." Hilda turned away from Eileen, "You say that, yet you weren't even there that day, I saw it with my two bare eyes." "Wh-Eileen began before she was interrupted by Hilda, "HIS DEAD BODY LAID DIRECTLY BEFORE HIM, WHO ELSE COULD HAVE THE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS?" Eileen remained quiet, for a bit, "Your anger and lust for blood blinds you that's how you ended up like this, how you were set down this path," Eileen explained.

"Don't lecture me on what I've become, once Rycu dies from my hands I'll be able to rest in peace once more. And if anyone kills Rycu before I do, I'll cut them down and kill everything that lives," Hilda threatened. She began to walk off and Eileen stood still and watched as she eventually disappeared. Laxus pulled himself up, "So you know about her as well, can you just tell me why she wants to kill Rycu so badly?"

"You don't need to know, the time will eventually come when Rycu and Hilda go head to head in a fight to the death for certain, the question is when. There's nobody who can stop her other than Rycu, her lust for revenge pushes her past all limits and surpasses anyone in her path. That's why you need to stay out of it, it isn't you fight to have," Eileen explained. "So how could Rycu win against her if she'll surpass anything?" Laxus asked.

"With Rycu she'll of course go all out with it finally being the time, just like her though Rycu has the determination and will to stop her. He knows her better than anyone else at this point and can read her attacks, he knows the truth himself and won't lose no matter what so he'll surpass any obstacle in his path. In other words, they're on par with each other and will be stuck in deadlock until one can land a fatal blow on the other. Hilda is too far gone, there's no stopping her attacking or saving her from her insanity so there' nothing we can do, the only hope for us now is Rycu, especially with the power of her demon hands which can tear through any material or magic ever known and also can strike it back at you depending on what form the attacks is," Eileen explained.

"That's some pretty big assumptions you're making, only because he has the will to fight on, it doesn't mean he'll survive the fight and push on over his will to survive. It's like saying a fish will jump out to the surface and jump along and keep alive over its will to see the land. It's not enough, his raw power isn't close enough to match hers, he needs even more limit breaking training, and doing that alone would surely break him down from pushing himself too far," Laxus said.

Eileen turned around and sighed, "We can figure out something to deal with her another time, she won't come back for some time now since she now knows Rycu won't be back until he finishes his mission," she then thought to herself, "Damnit Rycu you better make it back into my arms alive, if you die out there I won't know what to do." "So, what could happen to Erza? Would she go after her too?" Laxus asked. "As little as I care for Erza, no, she wouldn't go after her since she isn't a target, they may be related and I'm their mother but her eyes are only set on him," Eileen explained.

"That makes me think, why is it that you only care for Rycu and not Erza?" Laxus asked. There was a long silence as Eileen glanced back at Laxus, "To put a long story short, when I had Rycu, his dragon slayer powers where quickly found and to help save him from the danger it would have caused to him, he was quickly taken away from me and I was left in agony from the stress and pain of losing my child so soon and with no chance of getting him back… A while later I had Erza which started the descent into darkness which has now eventually lead me to who I am now. Before she was born I was captured by enemies, or at least…allies that now saw me as an enemy. It was then that I started my dragon transformation which I still even possess the ability to turn into now, I was tortured, humiliated and it brought me to my wits end. I had to use spells to keep Erza in my womb, I didn't want to raise her in an environment as dangerous as that which eventually lead to my own fate. They eventually found out I was pregnant with her and that's when it got worse, they wanted Erza and wanted to kill her but could not gut her out of me since they needed me alive as a start and it was their leaders wishes to wait for the baby to be born. That's where my problem lied, Erza couldn't be born even if I wanted to, she'd still be there for as long as I was in danger. The spell I used would only release her as soon as we were somewhere safe and I had recovered. Day after day I was brutally tortured! I'd bleed a pint it felt like each day, drenched in my own blood because I kept Erza alive, if Erza was found and killed I'd be here in one piece now! I bare the scars even now because I loved her, I was scared for life because I loved her and I was her human shield because…I…loved…her… The love I did have back then, through the many years of torture I lost my love for her, I didn't want to see the day where she was born. Eventually, I snapped myself, I completed my dragon transformation and broke open my black wings of freedom…but, of a dragon. I reigned havoc and killed any in my sight, I flew far away, stuck as a dragon. I believed I'd be stuck in suck a way forever. But, I eventually came across Zeref, he turned me back human once again, except, I still suffered the consequences. From my blood lust, it's all I could taste, nothing else was of flavour to me anymore. The I had Erza at last, I couldn't bare to see her and put her in an orphanage, never would I have suspected for it to be attacked so soon after, it wasn't my true intention. I may not love Erza anymore from what happened but she's still my daughter and now that Rycu helped me clear the darkness left inside of me I'll still protect her no matter what. She's in my bloodline and my family," Eileen explained.

Laxus went silent in disbelief, "Her story really ties so far back and she suffered such cruel torture. Though I despise her not loving Erza…you can't really blame her from what she's gone through, I can't really say I'd feel much different to her," Laxus thought, "And hearing this tells me something finally about Rycu, he grew up without his mother and was sent away to somewhere, in time maybe more pieces will fall together."

Eileen and Laxus both looked forward to see old man Makarov walking directly to them not war away, "So I see you managed to deal with the situation yourself Eileen," Makarov said. "She's now fled to somewhere since she's realised Rycu isn't in the city, most likely she'll be active again once Rycu gets back so we should keep our eyes sharp mostly around then I believe," Eileen explained. "I see, I then trust you'll keep a close eye on Rycu as it only seems right since you're his mother," Makarov asked. "During the day yes, Natsu will be there at night of course so we don't have to worry there since he's always got an eye open at night," Eileen said.

"Does Rycu even know about this?" Laxus asked. Eileen glanced back at Laxus, "He of course know of her, they've had interactions with each other in the past but he doesn't know she's here at the moment and it's best that he doesn't know. If he finds out she's here at any point then he'll get paranoid most likely and as far fetch as it sounds he'll want to handle it on his own and neglect our idea of protecting him for now. Rycu is quite weird, he doesn't want help in situations like this, he believes that it's his situation so he wants to handle it alone. So, when he finds out, there'll be nothing more we can do, he'll turn his back and get himself killed even if it comes to it. He's just arrogant."

"Well when you put it like that it makes a little more sense, so what are we going to do against Hilda?" Laxus continued to question. "Eventually Rycu will have to go up against her and it will inevitably happen, all we can do for now is hold Hilda back until Rycu is strong enough to handle her which at the moment he's not. Other people certainly surpass her power at this time but it is constantly growing, I wouldn't doubt it in my mind if she eventually surpasses Acnologia's strength in time but then again, Rycu's strength grows rapidly too so with enough intense training he'll be ready," Makarov explained. "So, to put it short, she a major threat to us," Laxus said bluntly.

Eileen nodded her head, "You and Makarov go back to the guild hall, I'll be looking for where Hilda has gone now." "Don't get too close around her, or there's a likely chance you could get into a head-on fight against her," Laxus added before he began to walk off with Makarov. Before Eileen knew it Makrov and Laxus had already disappeared, Eileen looked up back at the clock tower to see Hilda standing tall on its very top.

Hilda turned around after staring at the group talking and walked off to seemingly disappear, Eileen pulled a grin onto her face, "What kind of games does she think she's playing, she has all that power in her hands yet uses it for the purposes of revenge. That doesn't matter, if she dares to oppose us then she'll pay the price."

Gajeel and Wendy moved through the trees with the branches brushing past their skin, "You ok?" Gajeel asked. "Yeah, I'm fine now," Wendy said as she gained sight of the guild hall ahead of them, "Do you think Natsu and Erza will be ok?" Gajeel grinned, "Of course, on the outside it may not seem like it but they've got a lot more fight left inside of them, this fights far from over." Wendy looked up at Gajeel and saw the fiery determination in his eyes, he pushed through the guild doors and saw the damage that had taken place earlier when sky had attacked. Gajeel put Wendy down and quickly looked around, he spotted the blood on the floor which Rycu had previously bled.

"What is it?" Wendly asked. "Something clearly went down here, I don't know what it was but clearly it's already moved on my now so I think we'll be safe here for now," Gajeel said. Wendy spotted the puddle of blood and couldn't help but feel unsettled, "It looks fairly fresh, but it's definitely been a while." "Damnit, if this is recent I should go find out what happened myself, Rycu or some others could be close by," Gajeel thought, he glanced at Wendy who had started healing herself.

Gajeel walked past Wendy and stood outside the guild hall, "Where are you going already?" "I'm going to go find anyone else nearby, you stay here and have a look weather you can see who was here, just keep an extra eye out and if you get yourself in a sticky situation then get out of here and try and find one of us, worst case scenario just get as far away from here as you can." Gajeel explained. Wendy looked slightly on edge, "Fine, just make sure you come back in one piece along with everyone else." Gajeel grinned as he walked off, "Sure," he muttered under his breath.

Rycu leaned up against the tree, Medusa had finished the process and Rycu had the blood dripping down from the side of his neck. He could barely even flinch his body at this rate while Medusa looked down on him seemingly pleased. She wiped the last drops of blood from her mouth and summoned a poison snake in front of her. The snake hissed at Rycu and its poison dripped down from its mouth.

"Am I supposed to be afraid of that thing?" Rycu asked as he stared at it carefully. "No, the snake is just to keep an eye on you, your unpredictability can be a nuisance at times along with your resistance." Rycu sighed and looked away from the snake with no hesitation, Medusa walked up to Rycu and grabbed his chin then turned it to face her. "As soon as you move a muscle to escape, that poison snake will go immediately for a killing blow and you'll of course be dead. Don't make it come to that, you'll surely disappoint me and I have such high hopes for you," Medusa sighed as she stroked Rycu's cheek with the back of her hand.

Rycu stared Medusa directly in the eyes, "If you think I'm afraid of death you clearly haven't heard how far I'll go before, some measly poison won't be enough to kill me. This growing darkness inside me would effortlessly nullify its affects." "You are right there, that's if it was measly poison, to just quickly correct you it's venom and it is stronger than you think. It can cause great pain, cause swelling, lower your blood pressure, a coma and even death," Medusa grinned, "And I wouldn't rely on the darkness, it more often than not will increase the damage it does to your body, so think about that first."

Rycu thought and it didn't make him flinch at all, "Still doesn't change a thing, if it kills me so be it, like I already said, I'm not afraid of death," he said as he edged towards Medusa as he gained back some of his mobility. "Your arrogance in action again," Medusa sighed, "I can say the same about the way you and your allies act," Rycu said back. Medusa pulled herself close to Rycu and whispered into his ear with a grin, "If you die so be it, but there's still much I can do with a lone body."

Medusa pushed Rycu gently back up against the tree and stood up before walking behind the snake. Rycu could feel all his blood circulating through his body again and he could feel like he could move again. Rycu tapped his fingers on legs with a grin, he pulled himself up and stretched, "Ahhh, it feels great to move again, I'll be honest when I say it was painful to have you biting in my neck and not being able to move for a while is quite irritating when you're just in my reach. Being able to move now, I guess I can final get a chance to jump back into the fight." Medusa kept silent, "Not talking so much now? Guess you exhausted yourself while I was vulnerable, now come on there's no need to be shy," Rycu grinned as he took a step forward and the snake began to hiss louder.

"Well if you're so excited to jump right back into fighting then come right at me but I think it would be useful if you knew something first," Medusa began as Rycu didn't even stop progressing. The snake lunged at Rycu with its venom at the ready, Rycu held out his hand and grabbed the snake by its neck directly before it bit into him. Rycu held the snake in his hand and crushed his fist which disappeared in his hand by it's body cracking into a black shell. Medusa grinned as Rycu progressed towards her. "You'll only be able to kill me Rycu once the number hits one."

Rycu paused for a second in his progression and his breath stuttered, Medusa saw the sudden thoughts flow through his mind and she liked how manipulative she felt, she felt like she was pulling the strings on Rycu. He thought for a second and continued to walk towards Medusa who lucked in shock that he still came. Medusa pulled a grin on her face.

"His unpredictability in action once again, no matter, what must be done, will be done."


	103. Our Last Fight

Rycu took a large step forward towards Medusa, he bent his knees and focused his eyes on her. He leaped towards her with a fiery fist in his hand, Medusa grabbed his fist and threw him to a tree. Rycu hit the tree with his legs and bounced immediately off of it back at Medusa and punched her out of the way but it did minimal damage. At the most she wasn't phased by the hit and she was skimmed back on the floor still standing up straight as well.

"A flame in your hand which never truly burns," Medusa said aloud in wonder. Rycu looked in confusion, "You have a fire in your hand yet can't you see how impure it is? A true fire burns in anger and swallows what it catches into the depths of hell, your fire is yet a mere clone of it, even your friend Natsu's fire posses more qualities than yours."

"Oh, you want to see a real fire?" Rycu grinned as he dug his hands into the ground, immediately a large circle of fire appeared around Rycu and Medusa, she could even feel the intensity of his flames growing. Rycu brought his hands up from the ground and let the fire hold up around them. "Interesting," Medusa thought, "Well, it's my turn," she grinned.

Medusa held out her hands and multiple snakes were released from seemingly under her sleeve. They swarmed the floor and they all slithered in front of Medusa, after it stopped she put her hands behind he back and gripped her wrist looking seemingly pleased with herself holding a grin. All the snakes charged at Rycu at once like a stampede, he swiped both of his hands to the side and a gust of wind pushed out that knocked all of the snakes back into a group. Rycu jumped high into the air and shot a giant bolt of lightning which hit a group of snakes and past through them all, killing all of them at once.

As Rycu fell back down he aimed at Medusa, when he was close enough, she grabbed him by the neck and smashed him into the ground. She lifted up her boot stomp on his head but as she did he rolled out of the way and kicked her in the chest, pushing her out of the way. Medusa landed back with her feet on the ground, "This is my only chance," Rycu thought. He changed towards Medusa with a flame in each hand, he jumped at her and grabbed each other her wrists. As they fell he boosted his feet with fire and blasted in one direction far away and out of the fire circle and let go of Medusa.

Rycu landed on the floor and continued to rush along without hesitation, he knew he had the speed to stay ahead of Medusa so he made an escape to go find one of the other dark wizards which he could take out since he was at his full power after doing nothing for so long. Medusa stood back up and didn't even bother, the fire around quickly disappeared, "Unpredictability," she sighed, "No matter, we're not through with this just yet Rycu."

Gajeel walked through the thick trees hearing voices he recognised to be familiar, "Hello?" Gajeel called. He pushed through some more bushes and looked around as he progressed, all the steps he heard stop and he was getting himself lost the more he stumbled along. "Where is everyone?" Gajeel thought as he looked around himself hearing more noises.

Gajeel saw by the corner of his eye someone standing in the trees but he didn't have enough time to recognise who it was. Gajeel rush the way he saw the figure and pushed through the bushes to an open plain. "No way…" Gajeel thought as he stared in amazement forward. Ichiya, Hibiki, Eve and Jura. All of them were frozen to stone, "Wha-…what on earth happened here?" Gajeel thought.

Gajeel heard a noise from behind so he glanced back before he was hit forward, Gajeel pushed himself up and looked at Sky who was standing behind him. "What did you?" Gajeel began before he was interrupted with Sky kicking him in the face. "Enough with the questions, if you just give up this can be a lot less painful. Your friends are so pathetically weak that it's ridiculous that they of all people were sent to stop us," Sky laughed.

"You asshole!" Gajeel shouted as he turned his hand into a sawblade and sliced it at Sky but she easily managed to dodge out of the way. Gajeel immediately jumped again as she landed but Sky managed to dodge to the side and punch Gajeel in the face which blasted him across the floor. "Power influenced by anger is always the most pathetic," Sky said as she stepped towards Gajeel with her multiple floating hands appearing around her.

A red beam shot from one of her hands which hit Gajeel, it made his ears ring and blasted across the floor again. A blue beam shot from another hand which wrapped around Gajeels arm and swung him into multiple thick trees. Gajeel shouted, "Iron dragon slayer roar!" A grey looking blast of wind shot out of Gajeel's mouth at Sky. When Gajeel stopped his attack, Sky was no longer standing there, he looked around in confusion. All of a sudden, Gajeel was hit critically in the back, he glanced behind and saw Sky standing there with her fist piercing deep into his back.

Gajeel fell to the floor with blood dripping out of his mouth, Sky kicked Gajeel onto his back and stomped on his neck, "Lights out," Sky grinned as she stomped with all her force on Gajeels head which knocked him out cold. "You'll be just like them," Sky chuckled as Gajeel slowly began to turn into stone. She listened out around her and heard someone in the bushes, "I'm coming for you next."

Laxus sat on a stool by the bar slumped over, "Something bothering you?" Mira asked as she started to pour a drink for him. "I just don't get it," Laxus said with his head in his hands. "Get what?" "Hilda, who really is she? Makarov and Eileen are clearly not willing to tell, and there's absolutely no clues whatsoever as to what's going on," Laxus sighed.

"I think that Makarov just doesn't want you interfering, he has a point when he says it's Rycu's business concerning who she is," Mira said. "But if she's a major threat to us that could be on the level of Acnologia then we all need to know, it is about Rycu's safety to Makarov but if she's after him she'll cut through us all first and I'm not letting that happen," Laxus said.

"I'm sure they have got it under control," Mira said. "I'm not so sure," Laxus said nervously. "There's no need to, try to do something to make you less stressed!" Mira said cheerfully. "Like what?" Laxus asked. Mira started thinking, "I don't know, try doing some training, get the anger out of you!" Laxus thought for a moment before saying, "That's not actually a bad idea." Laxus stood up, Happy quickly came flying in and jumped onto Laxus' shoulder after hearing over their conversation.

"What do you want?" Laxus sighed. "Take me with you!" Happy exclaimed. "Why should I?" "Because…Natsu isn't here! I haven't got anyone to mess around with, it isn't the same!" Happy cried. "Can't you just mess around with someone else? What about Juvia?" He asked before he looked at her and realised that wasn't the best choice because she was creating a large puddle of her tears around herself. Laxus looked around some more and then just placed him on the wooden counter, "Stay with Mira ok? I want to go train by myself, no interferences from you."

"Aww," Happy sobbed as he looked down to the floor. Mira grabbed happy and squeezed him to herself, "Sure! I'll look after him!" Mira said cheerfully. Laxus walked for the guild doors and then looked up to Makarov who sat on the upper level. They both made eye contact and Laxus already knew what Makarov would ask, "No gramps, I'm not going to go after Hilda before you ask." Makarov nodded his head and Laxus walked out of the guild doors. Laxus looked at the dark sky and the snow dropping down already began to coat him along with everything else which was snow coated.

Laxus looked to the sky and thought about a while back when he and Rycu first clashed fist with each other, "Damnit, I was such an idiot," Laxus thought, "Rycu…come back to us alive with the others. I won't be able to forgive myself if you don't make it back, why am I the one who feels so guilty?" Laxus thought for a second, "Well, it isn't my fault that he's gone on this mission, it's not my fault if he doesn't make it back but…I guess I never gave him a real apology for attacking him." Laxus knocked the thought out of his head and walked along the snow path until he could no longer be seen.

Rycu walked along the path, trying to find someone he could take out possibly, like around the guild which was far away from them, the area quickly became clouded by snow, the ground was still the same during the process of the demon revival with it being black with the blue lines running through. Rycu left his footprints in the ever-growing layers of snow, with new layers being made behind.

Rycu took deep breaths as his body began to get a little colder than what it was, Rycu thought in the back of his mind, "Running out of time…there's not enough of it…soon enough we'll all be dead. All of us. Well, of course, one factor isn't ruled out," Rycu thought of a while back. "I don't have enough energy in my body to even handle two of these people before the time comes where I'll have to face the demon. This surely isn't just a battle. This is a war, allies constantly wiped the floor with and occasionally a victory for us, taking out an enemy," Rycu looked at his hands, "Even I've taken out one myself."

Rycu came to a realisation and stopped walking forward, letting his feet sink into the growing snow as he heard snowy footsteps behind himself. There was a silence as they both stopped and without turning around Rycu even recognised who was there.

"Sky." Rycu said

"It's not a surprise to you anymore is it?" Sky sighed, "We've had too many encounters to count at this point." "You're right…this feud has gone on long enough and besides, it's time that I finally start fighting back for once. I've been defenceless and have to endure from you for too long…now it's my turn to fight back. Don't think I'll be holding back, you've seen nothing from me yet," Rycu said deadly serious.

"You think I've seen none of your power? Well, you haven't seen a fraction of mine either, if you think you'll be able to keep up with me then come at me with all you have. Otherwise you can give yourself up and we'll move this along, but, if you challenge me…I won't guarantee any of you will be spared," Sky explained. Rycu grinned, "Like I said to Medusa, none of your threats scare me, I won't give myself up to the likes of you. I'm not afraid of what may happen, I'm not afraid of death and I'm not afraid of you."

Sky liked what she was seeing, she could feel the power in Rycu's words and the determination in him. "Yes," Sky grinned, "This is the power I've been waiting for, it feels so great! So powerful! Maybe he will be a true challenger to me?" "This is it," Rycu said. "I'll tear you apart," Sky said. "This is the last time we ever face, we end this now, this is our last fight," Rycu said.

Sky couldn't help but laugh, "LET'S END THIS RYCU!"


	104. Sweet Dreams

**Quick note, I've started to use a different program, LibreOffice, to write these chapters, so if anything seems weird, it could just be that I'm still trying to get used to this since for me it feels different to word which I previously used. For anyone wondering, it was a string of events which have lead me to using this, if everything gets sorted through time, I may switch**

 **back to Word or use both.**

Wendy leaned up against one of the marble pillars in the Pegasus guild hall, her vision growing hazy with a great headache. "Where has this pain come from?" Wendy thought, "I was hit by at the most a few attacks from Dusk and I feel so bad, why?" She began to become paranoid, hearing noises that weren't really there around her. She could feeling it as if her skull was being smashed by a hammer relentlessly with such a great force.

"Is it that he hit me so hard, or is it that his attacks left a large effect on me after even a few touches?" Wendy asked herself. She could feel her stomach twisting and turning like an ancient volcano holding in a marvellous blast, "Stay strong Wendy," she thought to herself in a tight fist. Wendy's eyes opened wide as she heard scratching, it was like a deafening noise that could drive you crazy hearing it for so long.

Wendy's eyes glanced over to the door of the guild and stood still in fear as a green clawed hand reached around it with scales around it. It would take a second to realise it was Medusa, she was all the same but the scales had appeared from after the shot fight with Rycu. The door pushed open and you could see her completely now, a smug grin on her face full with confidence and a strong presence of magic force carried around her.

"How humorous, you were supposed to be the reinforcements that helped rally them on further and aid in battle yet you've done nothing to help whatsoever. You've ended up beat and tangled in the very fear you were to drag them from," Medusa grinned as she slowly walked around the guild hall while Wendy was stood still like a statue. Wendy looked at Medusa as a whole and noticed she had some blood on her though not too much, "Wh, what have you been doing to our friends?"

Medusa immediately knew what she meant, "I've just been having a little rampage, it did fortunately end in a little blood shed a points but up to now I still haven't killed. Why? Would you like to be the first to die?" "No, you won't kill any of us by the time this fight is over, all of us will leave here alive!" Wendy exclaimed. "How cute, but even so, if you do win this I can guarantee I'll take away at least one persons life away with mine in my last breaths. You can't do this flawlessly, someone has to die at some point," Medusa exclaimed. "You won't kill ever again," Wendy said confidently. "Don't make me laugh, you have all killed in the past at least once and I know that as a fact. All I'm doing is repaying the favour," Medusa responded.

Wendy could answer back, "Child I can end this in peace or in blood, the decision to which lies in you. If I really have to kill again, then I myself won't mind the fact that it'll be a young child." Wendy was shook in fear, so much so that she could even move her body without a stutter, "I can't go down like this," she thought. "Sky dragon roar!" Wendy shouted. The gust of wind directed towards Medusa but she quickly dodged out of the way to behind Wendy, Wendy quickly turned around with a fist surrounded with a small wind barrier to give it extra strength with it directed towards Medusa.

Medusa grabbed Wendy's fist with her left hand and grabbed Wendy tightly by the neck with her other and lifted her to the air where she dangled, "Now then, go to sleep child, if you die, then you see that non of this is my fault. I'm just setting out to finish what I started and if you are in my path to doing so then so be it." Wendy couldn't breath and could barely move her lips. "To bed," Medusa whispered as Wendy's vision faded and her body went motionless as Medusa dropped her to the floor. "And yet again the number of wizards drop," Medusa grinned as stone began to cover Wendy's body. She walked out of the guild hall as Wendy's body became complete stone, like the statue of fear she had, "I'm coming for your other friends now Rycu, then I'll get you one last time and I can use you all I like, for what I want," Medusa grinned looking insane as she re-entered the cluttered forest.

Eileen walked across the snowy floor with Hilda in sight ahead, she was easy to track because of her footprints but it was obvious that she wanted to be found. As Hilda walked up ahead she stretched out her arm and Eileen saw as the black and red coating of her demon hand appeared around it with great magic energy flowing out and into it. "She's purposely luring me away so she can deal with me further away from people," Eileen thought.

Eileen stopped walking as Hilda stopped, by now they were within range of each other, "So you were foolish enough to follow me to here," Hilda sighed. "Don't think that I followed you here because I was dumb enough to fall for a see-through trick," Eileen stated. "Oh I know that, with you being the brat's mother I'd expect he'd get some of his unusual personality off of you," Hilda smiled. "I'll give you one chance and one chance only, either you leave Fiore for ten years, or I'll take you down myself now and hand you to the magic council," Eileen explained.

"Saying it like that makes it sound even better, I've been waiting for a good fight, besides, leaving Fiore would cut the fun I've been having so short. Why, if I had knowledge of my potential power so long ago, I would have achieved it sooner and killed Rycu long ago, even before it all started to come back to his head and when you couldn't be there to save him," Hilda said. All of a sudden. Eileen sprung forward and punched Hilda directly in the stomach which blasted her across the floor and left a long visible trail behind.

"Going for the cheap shots then are we?" Hilda sighed as she turned her other hand into its demon form. "Maybe if it all happened like you hoped all those years ago, everyone would be in peace, at least from you. By then I would have never found the love for my son and maybe would have grew to despise him more...but that never happened. With Rycu though, I came to my senses, he's fought off plenty of dark wizards to save us and with his power...we'll be able to stop corrupted mages like you!" Eileen shouted as she jumped towards Hilda again.

Hilda punched Eileen away when she was in a close enough range, she quickly followed up with a slash with her left demon hand which smashed her into the ground. As Eileen pulled herself up her staff appeared in her hand out of seemingly nowhere which she jabbed into the ground and kept herself stable standing up. She looked forward as Hilda got closer towards her, Hilda swiped her demon hand horizontally at Eileen but she easily blocked it with her staff and pushed the claw away which left her with an open opportunity.

She chose this as her time to strike, Eileen leaped towards Hilda with her staff in hand, Hilda swiped once again with her demon claw as Eileen approached but she swiftly dodged out of the way of the strike. Eileen quickly followed up with a strong kick in Hilda's stomach which blasted her across the floor once again. "You may swiftly dodge my attacks and counter them but there's no power to yours, it feels like a poke on the cheek," Hilda grinned. "That doesn't matter, I can easily outlast you no matter what you do, I have immense durability and if you really won't me to I can start trying," Eileen responded.

A sudden thought crossed Hilda's mind, "Come at me," she grinned. Eileen already knew that Hilda was trying to lure her into a trap but she had no clue what it was. Hilda had bother her hands still in their demon forms, Eileen decided to take the risk and leaped towards Hilda at full speed. As Eileen was close Hilda sliced her left hand at Eileen but it was blocked by her staff, Hilda immediately followed up and swiped her opposite demon claw at Eileen but she used the opposite end of her staff to knock away the other claw.

"What?" Hilda thought. She had no time to think though as she was smashed down to the floor with Eileen's gloved hands. Hilda skid along the floor to then quickly blast back up towards Eileen, instead of directly attacking her she grabbed her staff that she was holding in her hands. Hilda didn't pull it way or try to remove it from her, she held onto it and crushed it as hard as she could between her demon hand.

Eileen tried to pull the staff away from her grip but it was stuck tight, she watched as the blue light of magic energy in the staff shine through as it broke apart slowly before snapping entirely. Creating a large blue explosion which blasted them apart from each other. There was a silence, Eileen slowly pushed herself up as she saw her shattered staff ahead of herself, like puzzle pieces. Before Eileen had even managed to completely pull herself up Hilda stood by her, as Eileen stood up Hilda grabbed her with her demon arm which restrained her with her hands down her sides and her tight grip leaving her unable to move.

Eileen struggled but she couldn't make a single claw on Hilda's hand move, Eileen could feel her body start to become weaker, she was rapidly losing her energy, "There's another thing with this demon hand that I forgot to mention, it can drain the magic energy out of a mage as long as I have a connection with them like what I have with you now," Hilda explained with a devilish grin. Eileen could feel all her magic energy being transferred into the demon hand which left her vision becoming hazy.

"What good are you anyway without your magic energy? You can't even stand without it," Hilda said as she watched in enjoyment as Eileen's consciousness was becoming less stable as time went on. "Sweet dreams," Hilda said as Eileen fell unconscious without any of her magic energy." Hilda opened her hand and her unconscious body dropped to the floor, she placed her foot on Eileen and thought for a moment, "With you being Rycu's mother, and since he's not around, it won't be as satisfying if I kill her now than if I killed her in front of Rycu."

Hilda's idea came straight to mind, she picked up Eileen and began to walk away while carrying her, "Guess I can put up with you for a little bit until Rycu gets back, then I can put you out of your misery, not without a little fun first though," she grinned as she seeming disappeared from sight with Eileen in her hands.

There was a large, dark circular room, with nothing in plain sight. There were twelve figures sat upon twelve chairs in the room, with them all separate heights. "The magic council has been reformed," beckoned a deep voice, "You are the first upon this new generation of the council!" The room suddenly lit up with a giant blue light in the centre of the room, all the people could now be seen and with other details of the room.

All twelve council members sat upon chairs that had different symbols on and were made of diamond, "You are supposed to be the shining light, the hope for all mages and non-mages alike, you are ranked not only for your experience but for your skill in combat. This group of mages cannot leave it to others to handle the work, if we must then we'll handle the jobs ourself." The twelve figures stared by their seats hidden in the shadows for the time.

"Allow me to introduce everyone to each other, I, am Zamzu, the head of the magic council. Lowest in command we have Zophia, following her we have Xeo, then ahead is April. They are the lower tier of the group. Next we have Po, Florence and Scarlet, they are the second lowest in the group. In the second from top group we have Claire, Bunson and Tylo. In my top group we have Spaze and Blade. Finally, we have my second in command, Zaphkiel," Zamzu explained.

"All twelve of you are my squad, and I am your commander. As all will work together to purge this dreaded place of dark wizards and demons," Zamzu finished explaining and everyone else went quite.

Zaphkiel then stood out and spoke, "Now everyone, this is where we'll get started."


	105. The Last Three

_**Sorry for it being so long since another chapter! Been sorting out a new pc setup and had some complications along the way but now I should be able to get some consistency back.**_

Erza's blade run down her side, the shining tip pointing towards the ground. Dusk seemed rather confident from the looks of him, his body was relaxed and he didn't have the slightest bit of guard in case of a sudden attack. Erza herself seemed quite worried, she hadn't fully recovered yet from her previous encounter with him. Now though, she knew she could make things different, his weakness, fire, stood in her mind still. With this knowledge she knew she could let Natsu handle him since he could annihilate Dusk like a simple chore but she started this fight with him and was determined to finish him herself.

"You of all people still insist of fighting me? How pathetic, I was hoping to get around to a fight with that Rycu but it seems by the time I finish you most likely Sky would have already finished Rycu off herself," Dusk sighed. "You wish," Erza grinned, "Rycu's far more than skilled enough to take down the likes of her. Dusk shook his head, "Are all mages like you this arrogant?" "And are all dark wizards such as yourself so absorbed in their cockiness like you?" Erza asked back.

Sand started to flow out of Dusk's hands, "If you're trying to make me angry, then you're going down the right path I can tell you that much. And if you intend to kill me then expect me to not hold back," Dusk grinned as he looked up with an orange right eye.

Erza looked stunned for a moment, "His eye colour just suddenly changed," she thought as she switched to her fire empress armour. Erza went to move forward but was unable to, when she looked down at her feet she saw they were held down by thick layers of sand. Erza looked back up just in time to see Dusk charge at her and punch her straight in the face, as she fell backwards Dusk grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards himself again as he punched her one more time in the stomach before throwing her directly into a tree.

"If I finish this fast enough I may actually be able to find Rycu instead and fight him with not even a scratch on my body," Dusk explained. Erza pushed herself up from the floor with a line of blood flowing down the right side of her face which stung badly. "Your fight is with me, I won't let you get to or through anyone else, that is a promise," Erza said determined as she stepped forward with her flaming sword in hand. "Be a good girl now and stay down why don't you!" Dusk shouted as he charged towards Erza, this time not using any sand to hold her down.

Dusk swung a punch at Erza but she dodged swiftly out of the way of the attack and track Dusk's movement through the air. She quickly kicked Dusk into the air vertically as soon as he had moved just past her. Erza quickly jumped into the air at Dusk and sliced him downwards directly into the ground before he could realise where she even was. "Interesting, you're trying to adapt to my attacks and find ways around them," Dusk thought as he pulled himself up, "that may seem good to you but in the long run it'll be no use for you. You'll be dead by the time you even see all my attacks!"

Erza jumped towards Dusk at full speed with both her hands on the handle of her sword. "Another problem for you is that with sand I can make it into anything I wish," Dusk explained as a huge sand pillar blasted up from beneath Erza, pushing her into the air, "there's far too many things for you to adapt to." "And you'll run out of energy!" Erza shouted as she redirected herself mid-air and dived towards Dusk with her sword pointed directly forward.

Dusk raised his hand and a sandstone wall appeared in front of himself but Erza easily cut through the whole wall with her flaming sword. Dusk looked in shock and couldn't move away in time so Erza sliced him across the chest with one stroke, Dusk was pushed back and landed on his back with a mark through his body that looked like black sand. "I'll admit that hurt me," Dust chuckled as he stood back up and the black sand turned back to its original colour, "it'll take a lot more than that to put me down though." "Don't worry, I'm just getting warmed up," Erza grinned.

"You don't seem so certain of that yourself, if you was just getting warmed up, why would you let yourself get damaged so much?" Dusk teased as he saw the numerous bruises and cuts on her body. Erza's breathing pattern went off for a second, "The damage doesn't matter to me, it's all insignificant. The only thing that matters to me is how many strikes it'll take to cut through you!" Erza shouted as she sliced directly through Dusk within the blink of an eye.

Dusk was stunned as he touched where her sword cut him and pulled his hand in front of his face to see blood. "You...made me bleed. That speed..." Dusk's words fell out his mouth in complete astonishment. Erza stood up straight with still a tight grip on the handle of the sword, "You may not appear so but with a clean enough strike, you can bleed. Even without fire to leave you open." Dusk looked back and realised Erza wasn't even using her fire blade and armour.

There was a long pause but eventually Dusk made another movement, a grin came a cross his face a some blood fell down his lips, "What a smart girl," Dusk whispered as he stumbled forward, quickly regaining a natural posture. "You seriously think you can win now? How ridiculous!" Dusk shouted as sand launched out from his hands and took the formation of a spike which barely skimmed Erza's arm as she dodged out of the way, being caught off-guard by it.

Erza looked ahead after dodging to see Dusk wasn't their, she could feel his cold breath on her neck up swung her sword behind herself to see her sword go straight through and the body of Dusk there turn to sand. Before she could even move again, Erza was kicked in the back and blasted forward by the force which made her drop her sword onto the ground. She saw Dusk next to the blade as she pulled herself up. "You can her it back," Dusk smiled as the sand created a hand shape and picked up her sword.

Erza tried to send the sword back but she was unable to, "I've lost control over it," she thought in shock as she summoned her light sword to her hand which she had gained a while back through Rycu. The sand with the blade stayed back as Dusk stepped forward with even more sand surrounding him, coming out of the ground endlessly. Erza leaped towards him and had the sword ready, she struck at him but all of a sudden a shield of sand appeared around the front of him.

As the light sword made contact with the shield of sand, multiple spheres of light shot out of the blade and circulated around to the back of Dusk. Just as Erza thought she landed a blow on him, the rest of the sand covered the spheres of light and they stopped their course, pulling back around and aimed at Erza. She looked in shock as they blasted into her and before she could even pull herself back up, Dusked grabbed her by the wrist and threw her higher into the air.

Erza felt like she couldn't even control herself, the blade in her hand had been broken to pieces by the force of her light spheres being blasted back at her. Before she got the chance to summon another, Erza was put in shock as a blade pieced through her left shoulder. Her own blade. Erza looked to her left to see the blade straight through it. Dusk started laughing, "Damaged by you own blade!" He said hysterically as the sand around her blade disappeared.

Erza pulled herself up, screaming in pain with a small trace of tears falling down her cheeks. She put her hand on the now bloody handle and slowly began to attempt to pull it out. She quickly let go of the handle as the pain began again, screaming in agony that could be heard from a far distances. Even Rycu could hear it, his eyes showing shock from the sudden scream. Sky who faced opposite of him pulled a wicked grin, "Clearly someone's having fun, I hope our fight is just as entertaining," Sky said as she summoned her magical floating hands around herself."You wish," Rycu muttered under his breath. He had the urge to run and go help but he knew he'd just carry Sky along with him to make it worse.

Erza continued to slowly pull the blade out of her shoulder, continuously trying to hold in her voice, she could feel the sharpness rub against the bare flesh of her skin, causing a large flow of blood to flood out the wound. "Pathetic!" Dusk laughed, "You clearly aren't worth my time if you're not brave enough to fight through the pain!" He kicked her which knocked her back onto her back and lodged the blade further back through her shoulder.

Erza lay there, feeling like she had absolutely no strength left in her to even move, "A warrior that dies by their own blade, how amusing that is! You clearly had much learning left to do so I'll go ahead and happily put you out of your misery for yourself," Dusk explained as he stepped towards her. Erza was silent, she stood up again and grabbed the handle of her blade before slowly beginning to pull it out, not making a single sound. Dusk looked pleased as the blade was almost out, "I'll prove you wrong," Erza muttered as she pulled the blade completely out. A fountain of blood poured down Erza's left arm and she was completely unable to move it but that didn't matter to her.

"You can't move your left arm, how can you expect to have enough power in your attacks now, I would say give up but this is seemingly getting interesting," Dusk said. "I don't need my other arm, they are just as strong on their own as they are together," Erza explained. "Interesting," Dusk thought as he gathered sand together and launched it at Erza as it now took on the form of a spike once again. When the spike was close enough, Erza stabbed her sword straight forward, into the direct centre of the tip which caused it to split apart around her as it pushed forward.

The sand which split apart and travelled behind her came back around, all of the sand took the shape of a large sphere around her and it quickly began to close in, trying to trap her. Erza quickly swapped out to her fire sword and swiped around in a full circle which burnt the sand she hit and made lasting fire which travelled up and burnt the rest which caused it all to collapse to the ground. Erza was ignoring the pain in her left arm, it hurt so much but she knew Dusk wanted her to show her pain.

Erza leaped towards Dusk, having been switched to no armour but her sword only to protect herself. "Lowering your defence for just an extra hit? How foolish! It would only take one good hit before you drop to the floor begging for mercy!" Dusk exclaimed. "That's if you can land it!" Erza shouted as sliced past Dusk. It looked like a perfect hit but when she looked back not a single drop of blood appeared from him. She saw his lags from his bodies detached but in-between was barely noticeable sand, "I can adapt to my enemies too, you see my whole body from inside out is made from sand."

Erza then figured it out, "Only when he is in a state where he is transferred back to flesh, which is when he is attacking with sand and not using his body, then I can hit him and make him shed blood." Erza thought again for a second, "There's a low chance I can land a good hit if he's starting to show me what he can really do, so more likely then not I'll only get one chance to end this fight."

Dusk completely disappeared in front of her as his whole body broke down into sand and spun around making a large sphere around Erza. She looked around but could no longer see Dusk. All of a sudden she was knocked from behind with a strong punch but by the time she looked back, Dusk had vanished again. She saw Dusk ahead as she pulled herself up and before she could swipe with her sword at him, she was kick in the chest upwards but she managed to control herself and land back onto her feet. As soon as she hit the floor she dived forward at Dusk and sliced but as she struck his body broke down into sand once again and another sand version of dusk jumped out and pushed their knee into Erza's chest before kicking her into the sand wall which immediately bounced her back and left a mark on her back.

The sphere around her disappeared and as she looked forward five similar looking copies of Dusk stood before her. "If he's controlling all of these then for sure he's using much of his magic energy, that's if he doesn't have a large supply of it still," Erza figured. Each copy in front of herself charged at the same time, they all blasted out a spike formation of sand at the same time which Erza managed to dodge through as charged forward herself. She sliced her blade at one copy but her blade went straight through and the copy broke down into sand which flooded to the other four copies, seemingly giving each of them more power.

Another copy made a block of sand which pushed Erza to the side, before she even realised another copy created a pillar which pushed Erza upwards. The two sand blocks disappeared which left Erza in the sky, quickly though, two more appeared on both Erza's left and right, they came into together to try to crush her. Erza made two blades appear in her hands, a dark blade in her left and a light blade in her right. Both of her swords stabbed into the blocks and she managed to hold them there for some time. Each blade glowed and both blocks exploded as a blast of energy came out of each sword.

Erza landed back onto the floor next to two of the copies and spun around with her blade which destroyed both of the, like the other, they broke down into sand which flooded into the remaining two. "If you was a true warrior yourself Dusk you'd face me as a single being I would have thought," Erza said. "Why should that matter? I'm just making this more enjoyable for myself," Both copies spoke at the same time. "You seem to be," Erza sighed as she looked forward and thought to herself, "Every time he divide himself he split up his power, so now he's coming back together, his power is becoming whole again. Splitting himself up though seems to have drained some of his only magic energy."

Both copies of Dusk were in sync, they jumped at the same time and even breathed in sync. Erza charged as well but one of the copies suddenly disappeared from straight in front of her, suddenly she was hit down from behind. Her sword landed in the floor but she still managed to keep a tight grip on it, she looked around but absolutely nobody was in sight but Erza could still hear Dusk's voice.

"I know I've heard about you before, people call you the fastest who can requip if I remember correctly. And from the looks you seem to be one of the greatest swordsmen I've ever come across," Dusk explained. "One of?" Erza questioned. Dusk grinned, "For certain I've come across stronger than you, if you can live to see the end of the day, you may find them some other day. Though from what I've analysed, there is even another in your group which has mastered the blade even greater than you." Erza was stunned for a second as she pulled herself back up, "But I've never even seen any of them around a blade."

"Well if you wish to know. From what I've seen, their technique is masterfully like they're using a blade at times. I can't say I'm certain but the chance is likely. There was a long silence as Erza whispered, "I'm ending this now." Nothing moved except the gust of wind that blew Erza's hair. Her heart began to profusely beat as the tension grew, she was already badly damaged so she knew one mistake and she could be easily finished then and there.

More silence. All of a sudden Erza struck with great force behind herself. Dusk body came out of hiding, he stood directly where Erza sliced, blood poured out of his body and he fell back to the floor. "Impossible," He muttered under his breath. There was a long silence, she did it, Erza won. "I could feel your magic presence around me as you hid, trying to camouflage yourself ultimately gave it a way," Erza sighed. She felt he arm as she collapsed to the floor herself from bleeding out of her arm, "I leave the rest to you all," Erza whispered.

Dusk couldn't even move anymore, the blood flowing out his chest was a nasty sight to see. Dusk looked in fear as he glanced to his side and saw a figure next to him, "M-M-Medusa," Dusk stuttered as she stepped out from the shadows of the trees. "Impressive," Medusa thought as she glanced at Erza, "It seems that you have failed me, you were too careless I observed." "She was watching the fight?" Dusk thought in shock.

Erza's body began to turn to stone as Medusa turned around from Dusk and began to walk off back through the trees. "Wait Medusa!" Dusk shouted, "Help me!" The number on their hand once again went down from four to three.

"Lets see then if you can look after yourself then," Medusa grinned as she vanished back into the trees.


	106. Golden Flames

Laxus stood in front of a towering oak wood tree as the snow piled up on him. He pushed his hand up against the tree and closed his eyes, he focused all his magic energy into his hand and with one effortless push he knocked the tree to the ground, even pulling up its roots hidden beneath. "So that's a new technique you've been working on?" Gildarts asked as he appeared behind Laxus after climbing the hill.

Laxus turned around and walked past Gildarts, standing on the other half of the hill facing down to the city as the lights came flashing on as the sky became dark. "It's late you know, don't know why you're bothering to train now, you should just go back home and get some rest," Gildarts explained. "Eileen, where is she now?" Laxus asked. "She went after Hilda is all that I know," Gildarts said. "And she hasn't returned since?" Laxus asked. "So far no, I don't know what could have happened to be honest," Gildarts responded. "Clearly she's gotten herself into some bother. I'm going to go search for her, come with me or not, I don't care," Laxus explained.

"And how come you of all people are concerned about her?" Gildarts asked. Laxus glanced away, "For all we know, Rycu and the others could be back anytime tomorrow, I honestly don't want to have him getting caught in the tracks of Hilda while he's searching for Eileen once he finds out she's vanished on us." "So you've managed to open up some space in your heart for him have you?" Gildarts grinned. "Take it lightly," Laxus complained as he started to look around from the hill for a possible area Eileen could be.

"Well, last time we were around her she left us by the town centre to go follow Hilda, so she has to be closer to that area," Gildarts explained, trying to recall information. "Well that's a start," Laxus sighed as he looked to the town which he could see from atop the hill. The clock tower Hilda had destroyed was currently under repair and with all the damage she caused, they closed off the entire town. The clock tower was partly done, most off the scattered rubble had been cleared away and the structure itself was only three quarters of the way from looking finished again.

Laxus thought about the major gap in power between himself and Hilda, "She managed to utterly destroy me and Gildarts by herself. It wouldn't be right to even simply call her a strong demon, she's far beyond anything I've experienced before. Even if they believe Rycu is our hope of defeating her, even he seems too far out of her reach of power." Gildarts glanced over to Laxus who stood still, staring down to the town,"Getting lost in your thoughts are you?" Laxus managed to slap himself out of it and walked forward again, "Sorry about that, just stupid things. Anyway lets get moving now before we're too late." Gildarts nodded his head and followed Laxus towards the town.

Lucy was blasted back with an instant punch from Sunjlie's fist which hit her directly into her stomach. Sunjlie immediately leaped towards Lucy again before Lucy shouted, "Leo!" All of a sudden Leo appeared in front of Sunjlie and grabbed her by the arm before throwing her aside. "Sorry but it seems like I'm gonna actually have to try against you if you are really intent on beating Lucy. If you think I'll sit on the sidelines as well then you're completely wrong," Leo threatened.

"I'll cut through all that I have to, to defeat a single one of you ruts!" Sunjlie shouted as two white glowing disks shot out of both of her hands, one targeting Leo and one targeting Lucy. Leo punched the disk with his glowing yellow fist which caused it to shatter completely. Lucy dodged swifty out of the way of the one targeted towards her and as it flew past her, without noticing, the disk looped back around and crashed into Lucy's back, heavily damaging it and leaving obvious red marks on her back.

Leo glanced around in shock to see Lucy drop to her knee and see a small line of blood drip down her back, "Lucy!" Leo shouted back. As he had his back turned, Sunjlie rushed up to him with a glowing white fist and punched Leo with all her might directly into his back. Leo was in shock from the hit and was held up by her first for a while before he dropped to the floor. On Leo's back he had a large mark from where he was punched which stung badly after receiving the hit. Leo felt like he couldn't move at all, though he wanted to. "I...can't...move," The words spilled out of his mouth as he was stuck in that position.

"What's the matter? Got cold feet all of a sudden?" Sunjlie laughed. Leo looked up at Sunjlie, his eye's bloodshot, "Tricky bitch," he muttered under his breath. Sunjlie walked passed Leo, who looked like he was still like a perfect statue, and up to Lucy who was pushing off of her knee to stand up. Before she could fully lift herself up, Sunjlie appeared infront of her with her right first clenched. Sunjlie forcefully pushed her fist into Lucy's stomach and blasted her far back, smashing into a tree head first.

Lucy glanced up from the floor to see Sunjlie still advancing toward her, "She's relentless at attacking me," she thought as she stood up since she finally had enough time. "Are you just gonna do nothing and let me use you as a punching bag? How pathetic!" Sunjlie exclaimed as she leaped towards Lucy as fast as she could. "Not this time," Lucy muttered as a glowing, white aura appeared around her. "What's this?" Sunjlie thought before all of a sudden a great blast of energy released from Lucy all at once, pushing her further back.

"Star armour!" Lucy shouted as she was covered in a bright light which quickly disappeared and showed the bright yellow armour Lucy was now wearing. The armour was quite thin but seemingly showed to be strong. "I've got a few more tricks than you'd expect left, if you think I'm gonna sit out and be used as a punching bag then you're wrong," Lucy boasted as she pulled out a glowing white whip which also sparked with electricity.

"So you've finally grown the courage to face me head on. How cute," Sunjlie giggled. Lucy said no more and instantly leaped hastily at Sunjlie. She swiped her whip once at her but she effortlessly dodged out of the way by ducking under the attack. Lucy quickly swiped her whip back into Sunjlie which hit her and sent an electric shock through her while blasting her backwards. Sunjlie regained her balance and stood tall again, "How awfully irritating," she sighed as she took a step forward.

After she had managed to travel no more than two meters, Sunjlie was hit by a great first full of energy from behind which knocked her on to the floor, nearer to Lucy. She glanced back to see Leo stood there with his glowing fist, "But how?" Leo grinned, "Even though I couldn't move, I used my magic energy inside of me to nullify the effects of the ability which left me unable to move originally. It didn't take long before I could move freely again." Sunjlie punched her fist into the floor in frustration as she pulled herself back up, "Alright, you want to see my real power? Then so be it!"

Rycu and Sky stood still, completely silent as they faced opposite of each other. "I lose here, then it's all over for me. For all I know, if I don't take her down right here, right now, then it's completely over. Our last flame of hope put out," Rycu thought. Sky stood opposite him with a smug grin across her face that she could wife away, she even had her own thoughts running through her mind. "Once I take out Rycu. there'll be no threat to me that's strong enough to take me down. As much as I'd like this to be a cake walk, he seeming still has an unbelievable amount of strength left in him. If I don't take care of him quickly, this might end up quite troublesome for me," Sky thought.

They both stood there still, nobody attacking, waiting for the other to make themselves open, "Well then, I'll be polite and let you pull the first punch," Sky grinned. Rycu instantly knew it was just a trap, "Lady's first is it not?," Rycu grinned back. "I'd rather get to see some of your magic first before I utterly destroy you in an instant," Sky explained as she put her arms behind her back to refrain herself from attacking." Rycu closed his eyes, looking slightly down to the floor and shaking his head, "If you insist." A great red flame appeared in Rycu's hand as he looked up at Sky with his eyes reopened. The flame in his hand violently shook, with how cold it was becoming the flame was slightly getting smaller as time went by but it melted everything surrounding it.

"I wonder what on Earth he could be doing now," Sky sighed, shaking her head, "Just making fire in your hand and waving it around like you just punched a steel tree isn't really impressing me if that's what your trying to do." Rycu didn't open him mouth and held his hand out to his right as the flame grew up his arm to his body. The flame completely covered him. Rycu clenched a fist as the flame slowly began to shine, it slowly become a dark golden colour that completely covered his body. Sky could see Rycu, the flame linked to his magic energy. "You want to have a taste of my power then so be it," Rycu said.

"I don't know what's happening to him now but I like it, his power has all of a sudden grown so greatly for some reason, its like this was hidden within him," Sky thought. Rycu took a step forward and the ground around his foot instantly cracked greatly, creating a whole where his foot had been. "With this power, I'll crush you with no mercy," Rycu explained. "We'll have to see about that," Sky muttered.

Rycu leaped forward with his flaming arm out in front of himself, Sky held her wrist to the side as Rycu got close and they clashed, Rycu's fist clashing against Sky's wrist. The ground instantly shook greatly, with the force of these two great mages attacking even just once. Rycu and Sky locked eyes with each other as they pressed against one another, "Impressive attack, but that's nothing compared to my strength," Sky said. Rycu looked in confusion as she hadn't even moved position from the attack. "It's my turn now!" Sky shouted.

Eileen put her hand to her head as she woke up, she laid on a stone floor of a dark room with only her there. Eileen thought, last thing I know, I was beat upheavily. Eileen put he hand to her stomach, "I've even got marks here still." Eileen looked around in confusion with no idea of what to do, she couldn't navigate her way through the pitch dark, especially in such a wounded state. There was a loud noise as the stone door behind Eileen, which she obviously couldn't see, slid open. Light crawled into the room and as everything became more visible again, Eileen saw the poor of blood she was in, she touched her head and felt the dry blood of where she had been hit.

Eileen head a familiar voice as she looked to the door and saw the figure which matched the voice. Hilda stood there, her demon hand against the wall, "Sorry for the unpleasant surroundings, I had to shove you some where that was out of the way completely." "You," Eileen whispered as she slowly gained back her memory of everything, however she was too weak to move, she couldn't even stand up herself up at that moment. Hilda walked up to Eileen and changed her right hand back to normal since it was in its demon form.

Hilda reached down and stroked Eileen's cheek with the back of her hand, "Poor thing, you haven't even got a hold of your entire situation. Hilda quickly grabbed Eileen's neck and smashed her head against the wall while squashing he neck against it and turned her hand to its demon form. "But if you think I'm going to leave you here from now on unscathed then your wrong. I'll use you for whatever I need and as soon as Rycu arrives back in Fairy Tail, I'll kill you. Eileen couldn't breathe and her body became even weaker than what it was before she collapsed to the floor, out of conscience. Hilda let go of her body and walked towards the door with her hand on it. "Sleep tight," Hilda whispered as she slammed the stone door.

As Hilda disappeared out of sight she thought to herself, "I'm coming for you Rycu, there's no stopping me now."


	107. The Awakening

Rycu still pushed his fist against Sky's wrist as she pulled a grin across her face, "You never know, for once I might just get a real fight out of you if you push further over your limit. But I can tell you're not even gathering all your strength," Sky said as she punched her fist into Rycu's gut and blasted him back. Rycu still kept on his feet however and his feet just left a long mark in the ground. "I'm channelling so much of my energy at once and even with that, it's not making her flinch at minimal power," Rycu thought as sweat dripped down him.

Rycu took another step forward with hesitation in his movements, "I don't understand, I'm having no affect on her whatsoever, what am I doing wrong?" Sky held her arm out forward, pointing towards Rycu. Her multiple floating hands appeared around her and a golden coloured beam shot from all of them at the same time, as they travelled towards Rycu, they merged together to make one larger beam. Rycu teleported to the other side of Sky, out of the way of the beam, he looked forward but there was no trace of where the beam had hit. Rycu suddenly glanced to his right to see the beam of energy, circulating by itself to target Rycu. He was hit by the great blast of mostly electric energy and fell to the floor.

It's no use," Rycu thought, "I've drained too much of my energy already and haven't had enough time to fully recover all of it. There's not enough left inside me to even put up a fight." Suddenly a thought sparked to his mind as he felt all the electric bouncing around his body. Rycu lifted up his arm and pushed it against the floor to start pulling himself up, Sky looked impressed by his continuation. Rycu started to laugh as he pushed his other arm against the ground and pushed himself fully up with blood dripping down his head and over his eye that had been scratched out by Acnologia a while back.

"Still going are we?" Sky wondered. Rycu stood motionless, lost in his thoughts, "This eye..." Rycu said as he put his hand over his right eye. "The one scratched out a long time ago. It may have been a shadow that I defeated and almost died against, but even what was a clear fraction of his endless void of power...was far stronger than what you'll ever be," Rycu said deadly serious as he took his hand off of his eye and looked straightforward at Sky.

Sky looked in astonishment at Rycu as his right eye became clear once again, "Your eye...how on earth.." Sky looked directly into it as it slowly opened. Rycu's eye had healed, "But how did you?" Sky asked. Rycu's body had now stopped sparking with electricity, he had absorbed it all into his body for energy to replenish himself. "It was a mere shadow that scratched my eye, when I fought the fake version of Acnologia, he brought us to a shadow dimension. Nothing there was real, nothing apart from the feeling of pain. It plays mind games on you, truly none of the injuries would stay but thanks to the tricks of the shadow world. The scars and cuts we believed we had were not truly part of reality. And now I realise, using my magic energy I can make things how they are supposed to be," Rycu explained as he clenched a fist.

"Where was we now?" Rycu asked. Sky stared over as him and clenched her fists out of anger, "You think this changes anything? Only with a healed eye nothing will change! Besides, I can kill you now anyway!" Sky sprinted towards Rycu at full speed and leaped forward, Rycu stared at her and carefully analysed her attack. As Sky got closer, Rycu still didn't even move an inch out of the way, "Now pay the price of angering me!" Sky shouted. "Now," Rycu muttered as he suddenly dodged out of the way to the right. Two Sky's magic hands suddenly swiped quickly through where Rycu was stood, Sky quickly dodged out of the way and landed back onto the floor, "He saw right through my attack?"

"It's about time I turn the tables of this fight," Rycu muttered as his left arm was suddenly surrounded by an iron coating and his right arm was completely covered in a brilliant flame. Rycu turned his left arm into an iron club which was letting off great energy on it's own, making a grey cloud on his left that continuously trailed out his arm while the fire on his right arm grew and burned as tall as the grey cloud. "I see now, he's started combining the elements of his dragon slayer elements together so that he has more power since some of the elements I know of compliment each other," Sky figured, "His energy has already made a great jump, this should be interesting."

Rycu put his two arms side by side and he could feel the fire slightly melting the iron to make it more flexible. Rycu extended his iron club which was going towards Sky which was surrounded by fire from his right arm. Sky stretched her right arm forward which was aimed at the iron club, one of her floating hands appeared beside her and as she closed her fist, a red beam of energy shot from it at a fast speed. However, the iron club twisted directly around the beam of energy and continued towards Sky. Rycu effortlessly twisted his body to the side and the red beam which had been shot skimmed passed Rycu's chest.

Sky was frozen in confusion as she was hit directly into her stomach with the iron club, Rycu kept extending his arm and the club kept pushing her back and smashing her through structures. "STOP IT!" Sky shouted as she grabbed the iron club with both her hands despite the fact it was burning with fire. She crushed her fingers alone into the iron club alone and shattered it, dropping her. Before Sky could even prepare herself Rycu leaped at her without her even seeing him move, Rycu punched her directly in the face which all of a sudden blasted her hundreds of meters back, smashing her directly against a stone wall which was a dead end. Rycu within seconds was already stood a mere few meters away, not burning with any other element any more.

Before Rycu moved, there began a load deafening cracking sound as the ground began to shake. Both Rycu and Sky glanced over towards the giant beam of light which was completely taken over by dark energy. The beam had finally finished, with the demon's arm still hanging through, the beam began to grow extremely large as something was tearing its way through. Rycu was frozen in bewilderment at the sight and the feeling of such a great energy. The demon finally tore through, it's single bare arm ripped open the beam of light far larger. A second arm pulled through and stretched it even further open. There was a long silence, everyone could feel the strong air pick up.

All of a sudden there was a magnificent blast of energy as a demonic figure appeared, pulling itself out of the beam of light. "Nomada," Natsu said in shock as he was rushing through to find Medusa. He looked in awe at the figure, it had pure red blood eyes; hundreds of giant unsightly teeth and a thick fury layer of brown fur around it completely. "No...no, no, no!" Natsu shouted in disbelief, "No way the demons been released! This can't be happening!" Even though Natsu could normally shake moments like this off, he realised what stakes were on the line, "It has to be stopped. Think of all the lives that, that monstrosity will crush, all the disaster it will cause. I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!"

Natsu let out a roar of anger and all of a sudden his body entirely lit up with fire. Medusa was high up on some rocky mountain, staring down at Natsu. "No matter how hard you try, there's no stopping it, it's power is beyond human capabilities!" Medusa shouted down at Natsu. "Who cares if it's beyond my strength! I'll end this all in one blow!" Natsu shouted back. His entire body gathered so much magic energy that even the ground started to shake itself. Natsu lit up completely with golden flames, the scale marks appeared across his face clearly.

"I'LL END THIS NOW!" Natsu shouted as he launched off of the ground towards the demon which was thousands of times larger than him. It's would take the length of Natsu over ten times to be the size of a single finger or even more.

Lucy felt the power herself, even from so far away, the demon was clear to see. "D-did we fail?" Lucy thought. Sunjlie turned away from the sight of the demon, "This came earlier than I would have expected," Sunjlie sighed. "But it's not just the demon I'm picking up on, I can feel another great power rising, something tiny in comparison but is still nerve-wrecking," Lucy thought. The power felt familiar and didn't take long to realise that it was none other than Natsu Dragneel. This fact was reassured when she saw the golden light of Natsu zoom past, making everything get pushed back from the speed and power of Natsu.

Rycu could feel the growing energy of Natsu which even caused Sky to tremble a bit. "Dragon Force," Rycu thought as he saw Natsu's golden light fly passed. "As powerful as that is, it won't even leave a scratch," Rycu muttered as he closed his eyes and looked away. Sky glanced at Rycu after looking at Natsu, "How is it that Natsu can push himself so far, this presence is stronger than anything Rycu has shown me yet there feels more to him power."

Natsu was not far away from the beast, its red eyes darted down towards him, "YOU BASTARD BEAST, I'LL SEND YOU BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM!" Natsu's flaming fist crashed against the skin of the beast, not even making it react in the slightest. Natsu persisted and kept pushing with all his strength against the monster, the fire spreading from his hand spread off in multiple different directions. Natsu let out load screams as he pushed further, doing as little as barely pushing it's skin in slightly, "I won't let you harm anyone! I'll make sure that you are sent straight back to where you were kept for so long! This isn't your place to be now vanish!"

Rycu glanced back at Natsu to see his flames spreading everywhere, "Like I thought, it's useless, the demon is far too powerful to be scathed by attacks like that," Rycu explained. "So this is how powerful the demon truly is," Sky said in amazement. "Yeah," Rycu sighed, "And this is the chaos that you've just just unleashed to the world, and is the reason why I can't avoid taking you down. With this around, I wouldn't be surprised if the magic council get off their assess and try to do something about it their self. But there's no need," he said. Sky glanced at him confused, "That's because by the time they act, I'll have taken care of this myself," Rycu said confidently. "So you truly believe you can stop it," Well I'd like to see you try but unfortunately I have to dispose of you myself.

Natsu was making one last effort with his attack, pushing as hard as he could and letting out screams of pain of how tough it was. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" Natsu shouted. The demon finally moved, its left arm moved upwards and swiped in one swift movement to the right, hitting Natsu and in an instant crashing his body to the floor. Natsu was head-first against the floor with the rest of his body collapsed, from the hit there was a great long trail of where Natsu's body ploughed through. Natsu laid unconscious against the floor, his scar floating off of him and flying through the air.

Medusa looked down at the demon with a smug grin on her face, "Now let the chaos truly begin."


	108. A Cloud of Darkness

**Welp, as the ark is reaching closer towards its climax, it's hard to think how long this has been going on for. The story as I know has been going on for over a year now and I've not even grazed the surface of how much there is left of this story. So many powerful foes yet to face, stories to uncover and evil to perish. I appreciate everyone who keeps up with the story and thanks to you. Considering this is my first full length story, it's had a rocky journey and I'm still learning from other sources and aiming to improve what I produce. This ark I hope to finish by April or May and I'm going to try and pump out chapters more than usual, even two a week at some points if I get enough time. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! ;3**

 **P.S:-Anyone wondering why there's been so much of the Rycu and Sky fight, I've just gotten so invested in it so I'll try to focus more on other things for now after this chapter.**

The colossal demon stood there still, endless amounts of magic energy excessing off its own body, the snow coming down from all the clouds in the sky had filled with the dark energy and turned it to black. Rycu glanced over to where he saw Natsu get smashed to, "I'll have to try to take care of this and go find Natsu. With Medusa about, anything could happen to him if that attack was as powerful as I think it was. He burned out all his energy at once and on top of that he was hit by an attack that's like crushing you with the weight of many mountains."

Rycu stared back at Sky who stood there still, taking slow steps towards him. Rycu cracked his knuckles and slowly stepped forward himself, the black snow flooding around him like a black Blizzard. "Have more important place to be?" Sky asked as she noticed Rycu more focused on Natsu. Rycu fully concentrated on Sky again, "No, the most important thing I do now is take you down and don't think any different." He wrapped his arm around in fire, he could feel the cold air blow against his neck of where his scarf had been before he lost it among the chaos.

"It's about time we got back into this," Rycu said as he suddenly was surrounded from head to toe in fire that sparked with electricity. "Well if you intend on going higher in power, than so will I," Sky said as she closed her eyes and held her arms out to the side. There's was complete silence other than the wailing winds around them. The winds began to intensify even further as she clenched her fists tightly. Rycu just watched on as she powered up, with how powerful the winds were becoming, he felt like he could barely move.

Sky opened her eyes staring directly towards Rycu, her eyes noticeably shining a golden colour. Sky brought her hands back to her sides and stopped charging up her energy. The wind stayed as intense as it had been while Sky was powering up and seemingly didn't affect her at all. Sky slowly lifted her left arm with it pointing towards Rycu. She held the hand in a fist and suddenly her floating hands appeared beside her, now in a golden colour. All the hands shot a different attack at once, one shot a red laser beam while one shot out multiple blue orbs which shot off in many different directions. Another hand shot out a thin spiky glowing beam which pierced towards Rycu and other fired electric bolts. The last hand shot out many shining beams which appeared above and rained down on Rycu like thousands of arrows being shot at once.

Rycu looked at the attack before it reached him in disbelief, "How is this possible for one person to do?" "Don't act surprised Rycu, you haven't seen anything yet," Sky grinned as she saw the panic inside him growing. He quickly looked around at the multiple attacks and dashed forward, directly into it. "Oh how crazy he is," Sky thought. Rycu started by quickly dodging to the right, avoiding the laser blast, Rycu had his back to the floor and roared up in the Sky a great fire that burned through the beams which rained down on Sky. Rycu quickly followed by pushing himself off the ground up into the air where he managed to punch one of the blue orbs with his bare hand. Soon after how ever, the thin spiked glowing beam wrapped around his leg and dragged him to the floor which he smacked against. While he was on the floor Rycu was on the floor, he lit his foot with fire which blasted him forward to break the thin beam off his leg and to move out of the way of a bolt of lightning which was shot at him.

Sky's eye's followed Rycu has he blasted up next to her, "Not so fast," she muttered as she dodged backwards as Rycu jumped up and punched at where she was before. "I'm surprised you made it through that attack, fortunately for you that was a weak attack compared to many more I have prepared," Sky explained. Rycu was sweating profusely after that attack but still felt like he had enough energy enough in him to continue the way he was. "Well then Rycu, show me what else you can do," Sky chuckled.

The demon looked around, uninterested in any of the beings before it. Their power was so insignificant to it that it began to move along to a power level that it thought was much greater, something that was far beyond the demon itself. It was coming from the light, a presence that didn't feel like a complete form but still tremendous in power. The beam of light once again made the ground shake, dark energy flooded out of the light as much as a waterfall and a dark light began expand. "What could it be now?" Lucy thought as she looked to the flooding dark energy. "There another thing in there? Not even I knew about it and it feels just as strong as this demon which alone managed to one-shot one of their strongest allies," Sunjlie said in complete shock by the level of power she could feel. "I see, maybe this'll turn out even better than I predicted," Medusa grinned as she recognised the power. Rycu and Sky continued regardless of what was happening, they wanted to finish this as soon as they could. Rycu could feel the dark magic energy toying with his body, regardless of what Makarov did to remove it, there was always some that would never banish. By now Rycu had just accepted it as a part of him but he never wanted to use it to fight, he always wanted it as a last resort. The energy being released however felt so strong that it resonated with what was in Rycu, some even entering him body, unknown to himself. "Whatever else is going on doesn't matter," Rycu though as he tried not to get side tracked while jumping towards Sky who stood still staring at him.

Suddenly a great wave of energy unleashed as the light extended even further than what it was. It looked like a giant mysterious portal which could hypnotise you. The wind around them began to get even faster and stronger along with the black blizzard that became even faster. The portal shined brightly golden as there was a sudden explosion which blasted Rycu and Sky far apart from each other, away from the cliff and back towards the dark forest. Rycu glanced up to where the portal had been as did everyone else, now it had vanished. A strange black cloud floated there that had formed into the shape of some monster, it had most of it's details like it's claws but none of it was physical, it was all a cloud which you could easily step through. "What is that?" Lucy thought in horror as she backed up slowly. Rycu and Sky both pulled themselves up from off the ground and focused back onto the battle they were in. Rycu couldn't help but be slightly off-put by what had just happened but he tried to put it to the back of his mind.

A loud deathly noise was made by the cloud and made everything shake. It felt like it was bursting through everyone's eardrums other than Medusa who appeared unaffected by it. Some other tree even were pulled from their roots from the roar alone, leaving giant holes in the ground which was quickly covered back up by the snow. All of a sudden it vanished in front of everyone's eyes. Rycu pulled himself up as he spotted something from the corner of his eye. He looked fully to the right and saw his scarf wrapped around a tree. It's transparent blue, beautiful pattern being eye-catching. Before Sky managed to catch up to him, he pulled it from off the tree and held it out in front of himself. "Here it is," Rycu pulled a giant grin as he wrapped it around his stiff neck.

Sky noticed him with his scarf as he turned back towards her. "A scarf? Well it's nothing that's going to help you," Sky sighed as her glowing hands appeared around her again. Rycu kept his mouth closed, he realised how much time he'd been wasting so readied himself to fight again. "I see how it is," Sky realised as she clenched her fist, "Show me Rycu. Show me the power that you're hiding!"

Makarov looked out at the black snow and the clear corruption in the clouds. "So they couldn't stop it," Makarov sighed as he stared away from the window, "I can already sense the power of the demon from here, and an even stronger presence. I've never felt power like it, most likely the magic council are already aware of what's happening." The was a sudden knock at the door behind Makarov, "Come in," he said. Mira gently pulled the door open and walked inside, closing it behind herself.

"What is it that you need?" Makarov asked as he glanced behind himself. "I'm sure you've already realised that the demon must have been set free for something like this to happen but...what actually is this demon?" Mira asked. Makarov took a deep breath, "This demon, Nomada, was of course created by Zeref. It's original intend was supposed to be the strongest, much like Deliora, it's a huge destructive beat but on a far greater scale. I'd say there's very few to no people at all that can stand up to it's power. Not even the likes of Natsu or Rycu with their strength at this time." "So what do you plan to do about this thing if nobody can destroy it?" Mira wondered. "Rycu is enough to handle this on his own, he is far from being able to beat the demon in terms of raw power but he possess something that is the only key to destroying this monstrosity. Not only that for ages I've felt some strange power that resonates from within Rycu but to now he hasn't been able to achieve it. I believe that this is the situation that will cause him to finally break past his limit and reach a new level of power. Up to now I hadn't felt his power increase so the likes of Natsu has been becoming equals with him. Once Rycu can find the strength within himself to reach his next level in power, not even Natsu could simply match himself with him, only hard training will pay off at this rate if he wishes to break through his shell too," Makarov explained. "I see, so that why you left them alone. You wanted them to find a way on their own and reach new heights in their power," Mira realised. "Precisely, if they can match the likes of Medusa then they'll be prepared for most which comes their way next. No matter how severe things may get, nobody will be there to back them up other than themselves. Anyways, in an old wrinkled body like mine I doubt I'd be able to do as much as much as they can. They're the generation ahead of us, out fate is in their hands," Makarov continued." "I see," Mira said as she seemed unsure but tried to kick everything back into a good mood, "I know! I can prepare the guild nicely for when they get back, I'm sure they'll all be exhausted!" Makarov nodded his head and Mira rushed off cheerily.

Makarov turned back to the window with black snow slowly sliding down it, "Rycu, Natsu...everyone's fate rests in your hands, don't let me down."


	109. The Struggle Of Battle

Lucy was stunned by the amount of magic energy that had been flooding through the air, it was almost as if she could feel it against her skin. She already managed to burn out most of the magic energy in her body from having Leo out for so long and she knew it wouldn't be long before she ran out completely. If she didn't do something fast enough then she'd be flattened, especially since Sunjlie hadn't burned out much energy seemingly. "Leo, go back into the celestial world, I'll be fine on my own for now, with you out I've burned up too much energy," Lucy demanded.

Leo looked in confusion, "But I can use my own energy to keep the gate open if I have to." "Then don't waste your own on her, save it for Medusa...that's an order Leo," Lucy responded. Leo stopped himself from arguing further and send himself back before he made her waste too much energy. Sunjlie thought about it for a moment, "Sending your friend back to leave you on your own? How foolish, you were struggling much even when you had me outnumbered," she chuckled. "I don't need help, as long as I'm still standing then I'm fine," Lucy said fiercely. "Allow me to help you with that then," Sunjlie grinned.

Sunjlie held her hand out forward and a bright yellow beam shot out towards Lucy. Lucy looked slightly panicked as she could feel the amount of energy in that single blast. Lucy rolled to the right, out of the way of the attack. Lucy stood back up but before she managed to even catch her breath, she was hit by a strong attack which made her smash into the floor, even making a small crater of where the blast had hit. "The beam was homing in on me then?" Lucy thought as she tried to pull herself up in her destroyed body. Suddenly, Sunjlie appeared in front of her and picked her up by her hair, "How pathetic!" Sunjlie shouted as she threw Lucy aggressively at a tree which she smashed through.

"I don't stand a chance," Lucy thought as she managed to look up, now bleeding down her arm and panting heavily. Lucy could hardly even move at all by now, her bones felt weak as if the slightest thing could easily just snap them like a twig. "Once I'm done here I'll go find your friend Natsu while he's still out cold. He's just too easy of a target not to go for, anyways, your other friend Rycu will be crushed by Sky, it's just a matter of time till you're all defeated and the demon is free to cause destruction. "Bullshit," Lucy muttered. Sunjlie looked down at her confused, "If you think that demon will survive then your stupid, it'll be slaughtered before it can even bring harm to the city. And more importantly, I may be easily defeated...but if you think any of you have a chance at defeating Rycu or Natsu, once he wakes back up, then you're mistaken," Lucy said confidently.

"How confident you seem, it's a shame that your putting your hope into a bunch of weaklings!" Sunjlie shouted as she shot multiple light spheres at once towards Lucy. Lucy closed her eyes and turned her head away so she wouldn't see them and braced herself for the hit. "This is the end for you!" Sunjlie shouted. "I'm sorry...Natsu, Rycu...I've let you both down when you needed me to try and handle this while you're busy. I'm just not enough," Lucy thought. Lucy heard the spheres as they got dangerously close. She heard a loud slice and then within an instant, everything had turned quiet. Lucy suddenly opened her eyes and looked up to see Leo and Scorpio standing in front of her, "Like I said, you can just last on your own like this," Leo said as his fist stopped glowing.

"Yeah! We aint gonna let the likes of you do any harm!" Scorpio exclaimed as he pointed his metal scorpion tail Sunjlie. "How annoying, but that does not matter, it just leaves more for fun to be had toying with the rest of you!" Sunjlie exclaimed at hundreds of light beams shot out of her towards Leo and Scorpio. "Ready?" Leo asked. "Of course!" Scorpio exclaimed as he prepared himself, "I'm ready for anything that comes my way.

Natsu's body laid still on the floor, with being so wasted of energy he wouldn't even be able to warm himself up with his own fire. Natsu body was covered deeply with snow but he was still visible, if he was there for much longer he'd freeze completely. The blizzard was still becoming more intense as time went on, it hit like stones and came down multiple times faster then it normally would.

"Natsu!" A voice shouted from the sky but nothing was to be seen. Natsu's body still laid there unconscious. They kept on shouting but nothing happened. Eventually they landed to the floor with their white wings covered in black snow. Once they shook it off, it was visibly Carla, amongst the chaos which had happened before, she had disappeared seemingly amongst the group and then was lost within the blizzard. Earlier she had seen Natsu be defeated by the demon and saw the whereabouts he had been hit to.

She saw him laying in the snow and moved up to him, she wiped the snow off of his body and shook him gently to try and wake him up. However, nothing happened, "Being the fool he is, he's all out of magic energy. He needs fire to replenish his energy but there's no possible way for me to make any whatsoever," Carla thought. She tried to shake him again but he was still out cold, "Oh come on you lazy bafoon, wake up!" Carla shouted at him. Natsu's body twitched a little, "Natsu?" Carla thought as she shook his body a little more.

Natsu pushed his arm straight to lift him up slightly, away from the floor, "Natsu!" Carla exclaimed in relief. Natsu could barely even move, his bones felt as weak as a liquid, "Are you ok?" Carla asked as she helped push him up some more. "My entire body feels like it shattered, from that one attack...how...how does something with strength like that even exist," Natsu said in disbelief. "Next time don't do something as idiotic as that," Carla sighed, "That's a demon Natsu, they have no limits whatsoever to their power seemingly, they're just too strong compared to humans. Our limits weigh us down too much."

"Then I'll break past my own limits," Natsu muttered as he pushed himself up, his legs felt like they wanted to snap in two but he pushed through the pain. "Carla. Lets go find Lucy now," Natsu ordered. Carla looked in astonishment, even though Natsu had burned our all his energy, he was still standing tall. He didn't even have enough energy to create a flame in his hand. "You can't do anything though, she'll just tear you apart!" Carla explained. "I'll be fine, you just worry about getting yourself and Lucy to safety once I take over.

Carla grabbed onto the back of Natsu and lifter him into the air. She immediately flew off through the blizzard as fast as she could to go find Lucy. The snow smashing against her was extremely painful, it battered against her wings almost making her and Natsu fall. Carla looked down at Natsu and saw the determined look on his face, "Yes, he may be foolish, but he's certainly a brave determined soul, something I could never be."

Laxus and Gildarts moved through the busy streets, "You feeling that old man?" Laxus asked, referring to the huge amount of dark energy. "I do, you know what that means don't you?" Gildarts asked as he glanced back at Laxus. "I can't get into that old fools head, he leaves then on their own to handle this situation and now to handle a demon on their own. I can say that he'll be getting the blame if one of them comes back dead," Laxus sighed. "Makarov always does these things for a reason, you just have to trust him sometimes, even it the outcome to you may seem dull, for all we know it could amount to something great," Gildarts explained. "Though in this circumstance I see no good outcome either way, I just think what he's putting them through is to much. Weather he's teaching them a lesson or not, to me it just seems like some bullshit," Laxus said.

Gildarts shook his head, "You may not see now but in the near future it may all become clear to you." Gildarts halted and held his arm out to the side to signal Laxus to stop his movements, "What is it now?" Laxus asked as he stepped forward. "I'm picking up a familiar presence but it's hard to tell weather it's hostile or not. It'd be best if you prepared yourself," Gildarts said. Laxus knew in his mind it had a high chance of being Hilda, she had been roaming around, growing impatient for Rycu to return. Gildarts was in shock for a moment as he recognised the dark energy, it felt familiar, too familiar. "Laxus started to feel it too, don't tell me that's who I think it is," Laxus said nervously.

Laxus and Gildarts both looked up to the top of a smaller mountain where the presence seemingly felt strongest. They saw a figure up on the mountain looking down on them with a stall, "Eileen," Gildarts muttered as she came into clear view. "I don't get it," Laxus said confused, "I thought Hilda did something to her and then she's there looking all fine? She was missing for a day and now all of a sudden she's back?" "I was led to believe her and Hilda had a head on confrontation, now way she would have recovered her injuries completely within such a short space of time, especially considering the fact that Hilda's strength far exceeds Eileen.

"It seems that she's waiting for us," Laxus pointed out. "What would she want, more importantly why does she want us up there?" Gildarts asked?" "I don't have a clue but something about this whole situation doesn't feel right to me, it's just that none of it adds up to me," Laxus said. "Well then, it seems like we're gonna have to find out for ourselves," Gildarts sighed as he began to make his way to the mountain with Laxus just behind him.

Leo and Scorpio both charged towards Sunjlie at the same time in hopes of overwhelming her. As Scorpio went down onto his four limbs and shouted, "Sand Buster!" A huge blast of Sand was launched at Sunjlie but even with it's blunt force, she simply stood and the attack didn't even made her flinch. Leo jumped in the air towards her with a light in his hand shouting, "Regulus!" while Scorpio rushed again shouting, "Sand Spear!" Sunjlie effortlessly punched directly at Leo's fist which pushed him away while she shot a Scorpio's attack was a small sphere of light which completely went through it and hit him which blasted him far back in an instant.

Sunjlie shot another sphere at Scorpio again so he raised a sand wall to block the attack. The sphere went straight through the wall of sand and blasted directly into Scorpio once again and blasted him through dozens of trees, leaving a clear trail of where he was blasted to. "Sorry Lucy, guess I'm not much use against her," Scorpio apologised as he disappeared back to the celestial realm. Lucy looked on at Leo who was clearly struggling in this fight, especially on his own. "If I had the chance to I'd try to escape but my body's too weak to even move.

Leo just stood there barely able to move since his body felt so weak. Sunjlie grinned as she sensed victory within her grasp. "It was fun while it lasted but clearly you are no challenge for me," Sunjlie sighed. As Sunjlie launched her attack towards Leo, there was a sudden fiery blast between them that knocked them both back. "Natsu!" Lucy said in joy as she sent Leo back to the spirit realm before he was injured more. Natsu stood there with a single small flame in his hand, though it was not much, over time he gained back a minimal amount of his magic energy.

Natsu stared towards Sunjlie with a terrifying look in his eyes. Carla picked up Lucy while she had the opportunity, "I'll get you to safety quickly," Carla re-assured. "Natsu, he barely has any energy in his body does he?" Lucy asked. Carla shook his head, "We need to start a fire so he can fill himself up, like this he stands no chance whatsoever." Lucy had an idea which came into her head, she pointed one direction where she could make out a fight going on and ordered Carla to go there. "Trust me on this," Lucy whispered. "Lets get this over with," Natsu said as he stepped towards Sunjlie. "So then, it seems like you came to die after all," Sunjlie grinned, "Prepare to die Dragoneel!

Rycu panted as he began to grow tired of the fight, Sky on the other hand seemed perfectly fine other than a few marks on herself from before. Rycu hadn't managed to land a single hit in a long time. "You're no match Rycu, you're too slow to keep up with me and when you do hit, your attacks are so weak that I'll have recovered my the time you hit he again. "What does that matter? Guess I'll just have to hit you harder," Rycu grinned as he launched to Sky as fast as he could. As he rushed towards Sky again he slammed his fist into the ground which created large cracks in the ground which had fire blasting out of them. Sky jumped out of the way of them so Rycu immediately teleported behind her holding his flaming fist which was sparking with electricity. Sky noticed him in time and turned around to block his attack with one hand. Before Rycu had time to move, Sky kicked him immediately in his stomach, blasting him back to the ground.

"When you solely focus on speed Rycu, you become far too predictable," Sky explained, "It also doesn't help when your opponent is faster than you anyway." Rycu punched his fist into the floor and immediately pulled himself back up. Lucy looked down on Rycu and couldn't see what was happening, "It seems even Rycu is struggling greatly," Lucy pointed out to Carla, "Just looking at his stance you can tell, he's just being warn down over time." "What do you plan to do?" Carla asked. "You'll see," Lucy said. "Rycu!" Lucy shouted down at him.

Rycu glanced upwards at Lucy, "I need you to make a large sphere of fire!" Lucy shouted. Rycu looked in confusion, "Fire?" He thought. "For Natsu!" Lucy shouted. Rycu suddenly came to the realisation, "I see," Rycu grinned, "Of course he needs my help." A flame appeared in each of Rycu's hands. Sky realised what he was doing but allowed him to do it, "If he's burning out his energy, I guess there's no problem. If he's just halving his energy between them both then it'll just make it easier to destroy Rycu while he's weaker. Rycu jumped onto multiple trees to climb up, he jumped to many different ones in order to reach the top. As soon as he reached the top he held his arms outwith a flame in each still before holding them together above his head. A small sphere of fire appeared above Rycu but it quickly began to expand. Lucy looked down at Rycu nervous incase this ended up backfiring on them.

"Everything's now in your hands Rycu, I have my faith in you."


	110. The New Power

_**This is easily one of my favourite chapters I've wrote and is the longest definitely but I spent a lot of time writing this one so I hope you enjoy! ;3**_

The sphere directly above Rycu's head expanded rapidly, within a minute from when he started it was already the size of dozens of trees compacted together. "I need to keep going for a while longer, if I don't get it large enough, it will barely replenish him at all. Then again, I still need a decent chunk of magic energy to be able to handle Sky. Over time I've wasted too much energy. First I wasted a large chunk against Jax and over the may encounters I've wasted too much, guess this is what I get for being careless," Rycu grinned.

Natsu looked up at the giant ball of fire being created and grinned, "Now that looks like some tasty fire!" "I thought that you dragon slayers could never eat the same element from the same kind of source?" Sunjlie wondered. "Rycu's mixing all of his fire together to counteract it, with so many different elements in it, I'll get all the energy I need," Natsu explained. "Well don't expect me to let you get that fire. Sunjlie turned to the great fire ball which was still expanding and now covered a portion of the Sky. She held her hands together as the both glowed brightly, "Destruction beam!" Sunjlie shouted at the fire sphere.

Natsu charged up and instantly launched a fire dragon's roar at the beam travelling towards the sphere. The two collided with each other and created a large explosion in the middle of the air which was absorbed into the fire to power it up more. Sunjlie turned to Natsu with an angered look on her face, "Fine, then I'll handle you directly." Natsu leaped towards Sunjlie with his fire fist in hand. "Dragon slayer Iron fist!" Natsu shouted as he swiped. Sunjlie easily dodged out of the way and Natsu's eyes still managed to keep track of her movements. "Sword horn!" Natsu shouted as he quickly headbutted into Sunjlie which pushed her back and almost made her fall over.

While he had the chance, Natsu persisted and blasted fire from his feet to launch at Sunjlie. He grabbed hold of her while be was close by and shouted, "Fire dragon grip strike!" Natsu blasted her with a punch at point blank range which blasted her down into the floor. Natsu stood still panting heavily as he had already almost drained himself of the little magic energy he had previously earned back. "Is that all you can do?" Sunjlie asked as she pulled herself up, seeming unscathed by the attack, "I would of thought you land a single good hit on me at some point, but if that's your level of power, you'll be crushed by mine, you stand no chance!"

Rycu had kept pushing his energy through to the great ball of fire, he could feel it's great strength. It now was even the size of hundreds and hundreds of trees merged together. "It's taking longer than I expected," Rycu thought, "It feels halfway done only. Hold in Natsu for some more time." Sky looked up at the amount of energy was producing, "Such a peculiar man, though he hasn't shown me his full power yet so I can't stay completely off-guard."

Sunjlie appeared in front of Natsu within an instant and blasted him backwards with a single punch directly to his face, "I barely even saw her move," Natsu thought in shock. Sunjlie stood opposite of him with her glowing fist, she punched it into the ground. Instantly dozens of light spears shot up from the ground in groups towards Natsu. He jumped onto the tree behind him before launching himself over the groups of spheres by propelling himself with his own fire. "Fire dragon iron fist!" Natsu shouted as he brought his first down. Sunjlie stepped to the side of the attack where Natsu then landed. The attack made a crater in the ground and caused a great blast of rubble which Sunjlie stood through.

Sunjlie grabbed Natsu and held her other hand directly in front of him, "Omega blast!" Sunjlie shouted as a great beam of energy shot out of one hand at point blank range. Natsu looked in shock as the blast went through him completely, he felt like from the inside his entire body was being torn apart. Rycu looked down noticing what was happening to Natsu and he a shiver run down his spine, "Cmon just a little which longer," Rycu thought as his arms began to ache. "It seems like things are starting to look dull for them," Sky grinned as she noticed Rycu already growing tired. Natsu's body felt like it wanted to collapse as he stumbled backwards once the beam had finished tearing him from the inside.

Natsu fell down onto one of his knees with blood dripping down his mouth and a large open wound on his chest. Sunjlie soon after kicked Natsu in the face which blasted him back. His bones felt like they were becoming progressively weaker and his movements were becoming slower and slower. "I need that fire soon, otherwise I'll be dead soon enough," Natsu thought as he slowly pulled himself up. Before he even managed to stay on his two feet, Sunjlie grabbed him by the neck and pinned him to the floor while she strangled him. "Now die," Sunjlie muttered as she pushed down on Natsu's neck.

Natsu tried to push her off but his body was too weak to do anything. "I've only got a little bit of energy left in my body, I won't even be able to receive the energy if she kills me before I can get to it. Huge amounts of sweat poured down Rycu's face as the fire in his hands disappeared. Rycu looked up at the sphere of fire which was giant, it was the size of an entire mountain easily. All the snow around it melted within an instant, Rycu pulled al grin as he shouted, "Natsu! Here you go!" He held his hands forward which launched the sphere of fire towards Natsu. Lucy could feel the intense heat and looked back at the fire but with happiness, "He did it!" Lucy exclaimed to Carla.

Sunjlie glanced back as she felt the intense flames getting closer, "Such power." Natsu took this as his chance, he kicked her off of him and blasted himself up towards the fire. "Don't think I'll let you get away with that!" Sunjlie shouted as she fired a beam of energy at Natsu. Rycu saw the attack and blasted himself over. He managed to arrive in front of the beam and countered it with an iron dragon roar. "So you've come to intervene haven't you?" Sunjlie asked. "It's only fair that you fight Natsu when he is actually trying," Rycu grinned. Rycu glanced to his right and dodged out of the way of a beam he noticed that was shot at him. Rycu glanced to his right and saw Sky stood there, "Your fight is still with me, so if you want to defend Natsu then you'll have to fight us both.

Natsu had started to consume the fire and was making short work of it, "Just last a little while!" "Seems like you're on your own then," Sky sighed. Rycu realised to last he'd have to get serious so started to use all the magic energy left over in his body. Sunjlie charged forward first at Rycu, "Exploding light blast!" She punched against his fist which didn't even make him flinch, suddenly there was an explosion from her fist which blasted them apart and leaving a mark in a snow which was quickly covered up again. Sky launched out one of the floating hands, out of it shot multiple thin beams. Rycu dodged out of the way of the beams but as he moved, one of them wrapped around his leg which caused him to fall to the floor.

Before Rycu could move, another thin beam wrapped around both his arms and legs and held them out tight. Sky shot out another hand which fired a red beam at Rycu while he was restrained. The beam went straight into Rycu's chest and was so strong that it blasted Rycu back, freeing him from his restraints instantly. Natsu by now had managed to absorb the majority of the fire but he still wasn't finished. Rycu still managed to stand. He clenched both of his fists with blood dripping down his chest and arm. "Hurry up Natsu," Rycu sighed as he created a flame in his right hand and his left hand was surrounded in dark dragon slayer energy.

Rycu launched at Sunjlie and Sky. Rycu swung his fist at Sunjlie with his fire fist which launched out a wave of fire as well. Sunjlie dodged out of the way and kicked Rycu away before he could follow up. Rycu then held out his left arm and launched out a wave a dark dragon slayer magic at both Sky and Sunjlie. Sky was completely unaffected by the wave to she began to walk through the attack to Rycu. Sunjlie on the other hand was slightly being pushed back. Rycu kept trying to push to push Sky back but it had no affect on her. He launched through the magic with his flaming fist towards Sky shouting, "Fire dragon iron fist!" Sky blocked the attack with her single hand. As she had a grip of Rycu she began to crush his fist, Rycu continued to light his fist on fire and push against her. "It's not enough," Rycu thought. Rycu's fist began to spark with electricity, making it more powerful.

Sky could feel the increased strength so she started to push back further, pushing Rycu into the ground and pushing him back slowly. Rycu heard a sudden crack in his fist and let out a cry of pain as Sky let go of his fist and let him fall back. Rycu tried to move his right hand but he could barely do anything with it, "She broke my fist so easily," Rycu thought in disbelief. Sky punched Rycu in the face which made him drop to the floor, "I'm starting to lose it," he thought. Rycu looked up and saw Natsu had managed to absorb all the fire.

Natsu dropped down to the floor with his body completely covered in fire, "Lets do this," he muttered, "Will you be fine Rycu?" Natsu asked. Rycu nodded his head as he stood up. Sky immediately grabbed Rycu by the neck and threw him through through dozens of trees effortlessly. Rycu stood up as Sky approached him still, "You can finish this yourself Natsu," he said as he wiped some blood off of his mouth. Natsu looked back at Rycu, seeing how injured he was, he realised he wasn't in the best shape, "I'll end this quickly, then I can go and help out Rycu," Natsu thought as his body was completely engulfed in flames. Natsu propelled himself with his fire towards Sunjlie while his body was sparking with lightning through all of the fire.

As Natsu swung his fist, it went straight through Sunjlie and where his fist had gone through, you could see the light inside her body. Natsu looked in confusion as Sunjlie pulled a grin, "Don't think you'll hit be so easily with measly physical attacks."Natsu was suddenly blasted back as Sunjlie effortlessly pushed her fist into his gut. He coughed out some blood as he then jumped back once again at her, "How persistent," Sunjlie muttered as she held her hand forward and spread her fingers apart. Natsu noticed as Sunjlie was preparing to attack. A thin beam of energy shot out of each of Sunjlie's fingers from her right hand.

Every beam moved by itself and moved around to attack Natsu from multiple different directions. They all moved in on Natsu at once while he was still moving forward. He pushed his hands onto the floor and blasted fire out of them to boost him high into the air. All the beams crashed into the same point of the ground and caused a great explosion that pushed Natsu even further into the sky. Natsu looked in shock as the beams all suddenly appeared, blasting up towards him, "What?" Natsu thought, stunned by the attack. Natsu leaned his head backwards and roared out, "Fire dragon slayer roar!" A huge wave of fire shot out of his mouth towards the beams below him. The fire went all the way down to the floor and had fire curving around to different direction. The fire had completely devoured the light energy and left Natsu clear of danger from the attack.

He saw Sunjlie from the corner of his eye and used his fire to boost towards her again. "He doesn't learn does he?" Sunjlie thought as she placed her hand on the ground. Natsu looked down and could see some cracks in the floor beneath him. He quickly blasted himself downwards before a huge beam of light, dozens of times wider and infinitely taller than Natsu blasted out of the ground. He could feel the intense energy, "If that attack hit me I'd be dead in an instant." Natsu pulled back his fist and shouted, "Lightning fire dragon iron fist!" His attack went straight through her still and his attack hit the floor directly. "Like I said, your physical attacks won't hit me," Sunjlie siged.

Natsu grinned as he muttered, "Who said that mean to be a physical attack?" All of a sudden Sunjlie was shocked which caused he body to turn back into a physical form, "Physical attacks maybe be useless but my lightning can easily catch onto whatever form," Natsu explained. While he had the chance, he spun his arms around with fire and lightning sparking from each hand shouting, "Crimson Lotus: exploding flame blade!" The fire with such strength blasted Sunjlie into the sky and caused her to crash into the ground.

Sunjlie felt where Natsu had hit her across the body and it stung extremely badly, "He's quickly adapting to everything I throw at him, at this rate I'll be destroyed within an instant." Natsu charged forward again with his fist ready. "But that attack he threw at me...it was filled with such determination and anger. It felt amazing, his attack made my body tense up, my blood rush. The sensation of it, my body tingles and stings after it and now I want to feel more," Sunjlie thought as her mind slowly began to corrupt with insane thoughts as if something was taking over her mind.

Natsu stopped himself as he noticed something strange, a thick dark aura surrounded Sunjlie. A large evil grin came across Sunjlie as she stared directly eye-to-eye with Natsu. He could feel the shivers going down his spine at as seemingly black coloured veins were wrapping around Sunjlie's body. The veins looped all around each of her arms and across her chess stopping in the centre of each breast. Down her body also there were many veins seemingly tangles together with also some across her legs. "What's happening to her?" Natsu thought to himself nervously. There was a sudden strong blast in energy that created strong gust of air which pushed Natsu away slightly. Sunjlie's pupil in her eye turned black as some of the armour she was wearing shattered, leaving the black veins completely visible to Natsu.

"Her power just instantly skyrocketed greatly, it's making my body relentlessly shake," Natsu thought as he took a slight step back. Sunjlie leaped at Natsu with a black clawed hand pointing forward. Natsu was too stunned to bring himself to move, "Show me more of your power Natsu!" Sunjlie shouted as she grabbed Natsu from the head and smashed him through the floor. She let go of Natsu before quickly kicking him upwards into the sky. Natsu glanced downwards at Sunjlie before she suddenly disappeared. Sunjlie suddenly appeared above him and redirected Natsu's head to look at her before punching him downwards. Natsu's body smashed against the floor and upon impact caused a great shatter around where he landed.

Natsu leaned up as Sunjlie flew above him, "Like this I stand no chance whatsoever. He attacks at so fast and sharp, it's as if she has an unlimited amount of stamina," Natsu thought. Sunjlie within an instant appeared in front of him, Natsu swiped his fist at her before she acted but his attack went straight through and turned into a fog image in front of him that faded. "Damn teleportation," Natsu muttered in frustration as he pulled himself up. He looked around but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Natsu was hit from one direction but when he looked over there was nobody there. He was hit again but once again nobody was there. He was repeatedly hit from multiple directions but never had enough time to try and strike back.

After another strong, stunning hit, Natsu was punched in the gut and blasted backwards. Sunjlie appeared where Natsu was heading to and leaned back as she gracefully kicked Natsu in the back, hearing the cracking of many bones and putting a stop to his momentum. As Natsu coughed out some more blood into the black snow, Sunjlie grabbed Natsu by his hair and threw him into a dense congregation of trees. Sunjlie looked in delight as his body smashed through dozens of trees like a rag doll. She tracked his movements and held her hand out which charged up and shot out a large sphere of mixed dark and light energy at Natsu. The sphere completely destroyed everything in its path, completely disintegrating trees and destroying a path in the ground.

Natsu saw the attack coming but couldn't concentrate enough to balance his magic and avoid. He landed back on his feet in time to see the attack get larger and larger. It now was too big to avoid no matter what he did. "Sunjlie grinned as she realised Natsu had no choice but to try and deflect it which she knew he stood no chance to do successfully. Natsu's eyes were wide open as he stared at the brilliant attack, "No way..." he thought as he stumbled backwards. The energy as it got closer completely made Natsu's body shiver in fear for what would happen. Natsu lit two flaming fist and pushed both of them aggressively against the layer of energy. Natsu's feet were pushing back through the ground effortlessly, his hands constantly burning by the pure energy his was pushing against.

Natsu yelled out in agony as his hands were pushing into the energy and burning to a crisp. His efforts were useless, the energy had too much force to push back against. Natsu was shocked as more of his body was pushed into the energy, "This can't be happening, this can't be it!" Sunjlie turned around as she realised he had no chance, "Give it up, my power is much greater, you can't fight back against an energy larger than your own." Natsu was absorbed into the energy further, with all his strength at once it was still useless. Rycu could see the attack in the distance, "Natsu, don't give up now, you got this." Lucy saw it behind as well, she could even hear the screams of pain from Natsu and a small tear brimmed in her eye, "Natsu, don't die on me now...please."

Natsu was up to his body in the sphere, his entire body burining. He faced the sphere directly with his eyes blinded completely by the light. Sunjlie clenched her fist and the sphere pushed with even greater force. Natsu realised there was no way of getting out the way things were, "There's nothing I can do now. I'm sorry for letting everyone down, but she miles stronger than me," Natsu thought to himself as he was absorbed further. "Goodnight...Natsu," Sunjlie whispered as a huge grin came over her face and the rest of Natsu was absorbed by the sphere…

It suddenly blasted forward and in it's path, completely disintegrated a mountain in an instant before it eventually faded. Everything went silent as all the damage was quickly covered up again by layers of black snow. Sunjlie looked pleased as she began to walk away, "Worthless garbage." Carla glanced at the destruction caused, "Impossible...Natsu's...gone..." Tears flooded Lucy's eyes as there was no sign of him, "No! He can't be gone! Not like this!"

Makarov could even sense the energy as it faded all the way from the guild hall, "Natsu..." Rycu looked on with no reaction, Sky glanced behind at the destruction, "Well, it seems like you're the only person fighting left." A sudden grin came across Rycu's face, "Don't be so sure."

There was a sudden great explosion of fire that was hundreds of times larger than all the mountain combined. Sunjlie looked back in shock at the magnificent explosion, "What is this?" Thousands of trees instantly caught fire and spread rapidly in that area. The fire stayed in the air, creating a sudden great wave in heat. Sunjlie looked up on top of another nearby mountain where there was a brilliant, dazzling flame hundreds of meters tall. "Natsu!" Lucy said in shock. He stood tall with black and white marks all over his body. "How!?" Sunjlie thought as she clenched both her fists in anger and surrounded herself in a thick aura of white and black.

Natsu wasn't willing to speak much any more, he clenched his right fist and launched towards Sunjlie. He completely shattered the mountain to pieces as he jumped with little of his power, "His power has risen even further, dare I say past Rycu from what I know of his potential." Natsu blasted within a split second into Sunjlie and caused her to crash through the ground, creating a giant trail of where she was hit that was as wide as the damage the sphere had done before. "This feeling...I understand now. As he was on deaths doorstep, he managed to resonate his power with the energy and absorbed it into himself," Sunjlie thought as she pulled herself up. Natsu appeared in front of Sunjlie within an instant and from his movement alone caused a great gust of wind to push Sunjlie back.

Sunjlie looked in fear at Natsu who looked down on her with a deadly look, "Impossible...I've never felt power like it in such a way. I can't lose to something like this!" Sunjlie shouted as she punched with all her force at Natsu. Her attack went straight through and faded, she glanced behind her and saw Natsu standing there, she swiped behind and her attack went straight through again, "A double illusion!?" Sunjlie thought in shock. Suddenly a fist pushed into her gut as she looked forward again Natsu stared soullessly into her eyes directly. She was blasted far back at such a fast speed and couldn't control herself well, "He turned the tables so easily," Sunjlie thought as Natsu appeared above her and blasted her down with a single kick.

"Don't think this is the end though," Sunjlie grinned as Natsu dived down at her, "I haven even gone all out yet!" Sunjlie shouted as Natsu was blasted back from an explosion. Sunjlie stood up with her fist clenched. "Now she's extending her power again?" Natsu thought as he stabilised himself. Sunjlie darted her eyes at Natsu as she spread her arms out. The ground shook as Sunjlie channelled more energy from within herself. Along with the black veins, white veins began to grow all around her body similar to last time as they all tangled together. Natsu was slowly pushed back as her power skyrocketed once again, "How does she have this much power within herself?"

Sunjlie chuckled as she gained confidence again, "Natsu!" she yelled. She pointed her hand at him and closed it into a fist, Natsu was suddenly blasted back by a force which caused him to drop his guard. While his defence was down, Sunjlie appeared above him and held her hand in front of him. Natsu tried to dodge out of the way but before he could, Sunjlie grabbed him by the arm. The beam blasted in Natsu's face and knocked him to the floor. He looked up at Sunjlie on his hands and knees before pushing himself up and wiping the dust off of him. He lit two flames in each of his hands, a white flame and a black flame, "Let me show you then what power lies beneath my surface."

Natsu launched up into the sky with a long trail of fire behind him. Sunjlie pulled back her fist and shouted, "Dark fist breakthrough!" Natsu pulled his fist back and shouted, "Lightened fire dragon iron fist!" Both attacks blasted against each other creating a great explosion around them both, the energies of them both repelled. The energy floated away from their fist and vanished into the air. Their fist slipped past each other so Natsu quickly followed up by kicking Sunjlie in the face while he had the chance. Natsu immediately followed up by blasting her into the ground with his heel. Natsu landed on the ground and dived forward as Sunjlie got up shouting, "Dark horizon exploding flame blast!" Natsu spun around with his bright and dark flaming fist creating a great explosion of bright and dark flames which cover the majority of the area.

Sunjlie was blasted back and looked back in shot, "No matter how much I increase my power...he'll always match it. It's just no use," she thought as she began to lose hope in the fight as she realised the level of power Natsu was on. "I'll give this to you Natsu...I've never gone up against the likes of you before," Sunjlie said. Natsu charged energy inside of himself and prepared to end it in one final hit. Natsu completely surrounded his body in fire with electricity, light and dark magic sparking through him at the same time. Sunjlie felt the power and even at her maximum, she was nothing in comparison. Sunjlie stared at Natsu as he charged towards her and she held her arms open to be hit as she realised she was at her limit. "Natsu...you've allowed me to find new depth to my power, I've found my limit and I'll push past it over time. I can sense as well, this power, you've finally broken past what you believed was you maximum power," Sunjlie thought.

Natsu charged forward and as he was in rage shout, "Lightning horizon dark iron fist!" Natsu shouted as he was within meters of hitting Sunjlie. "Natsu...thank you," She thought as he landed the blow. There was a great beam of mixed energies that blasted through the entire forest and completely destroyed everything. It was the largest attack any of the had ever seen and caught the eye of the demon who seemed interested in the power. Sunjlie was blasted back thousands of meters with the single blow and wiped out a large chunk of the trees all at once. Sunjlie was knocked back to her base form and laid there completely unconscious. Natsu closed his eyes and when he reopened them, he turned back to normal as the marks faded away from his body. The number ticked down from three to two.

Medusa looked down on Natsu completely angered, clenching her fist, "Well then, it seems I'll have to take things into my own hands.


	111. The Infinite Power Of Medusa

Rycu cracked his head left and right as he felt the energy of the final blow being delivered. "It seems that his strength has surpassed yours in this instance," Sky explained as she prepared to attack. "Don't be so sure, I haven't given this my all yet," Rycu grinned as he coated his hands in fire that sparked with lightning. Rycu's fist were also coated by a layer of iron that was covered by the fire. "Don't tell me he's still holding back...how much does it take to push him past his limit," Sky thought as she clentched her fist.

Rycu noticed how annoyed she was, "So that's how desperate you are to see my full power." "Why not go all out now? At this rate I'll defeat you anyway if you don't try something soon enough," Sky explained. Rycu cracked his knuckles as he edged forward slightly, "I'm saving my full power for Medusa, even she is miles above you in strength." "I see how it is then...you believe I'm not worth of seeing you full power," Sky said irritated as she gave Rycu a deathly look. Within the blink of an eye they both had clashed fists at full speed, they stood there trying to overpower one another but found themselves at equal strength,

They both pulled back their fist and leaped back as they realised neither of them had enough strength. "You say I'm not worthy of seeing your true strength yet we're equal on power as of now!" Sky shouted as she leaped forward with a sphere of energy in her hand. "That's because I don't need it yet!" Rycu shouted back as he swiftly turned slightly out of the way of Sky as he swiped at him with her energy. The sphere hit the floor and upon impact caused a great explosion which blasted Rycu back as he raised his right arm as guard. He then raised his left hand and pointed at a spot to the back left of him.

Rycu shot a giant pillar of fire out of a single hand. It collided with another beam of energy and they looked together again. To avoid wasting time Rycu instantly overpowered it as he clenched his hand into a tight fist. The fire blasted through and burned hundreds of trees within an instant and joined up with the fire Natsu had created during his battle. Rycu turned his arms to iron and wrapped them in a seemingly black fire that pointed mainly towards Sky.

Rycu couldn't help but be side-tracked. He couldn't keep focused at anything but he started to focus more on the copy of himself from longer ago. "Lucifer," Rycu muttered as he started to retrace. "What's the matter Rycu!? Getting side-tracked? Allow me to help with that!" Sky shouted as she suddenly appeared in front of Rycu and blasted him with a powerful punch which sent him flying in shock from the initial blow and caused him to cough out blood as he landed back onto him feet. As Rycu took another step forward as he was suddenly stopped by a strong opposing blow. He looked down to see Sky's fist in his gut and her other arm reaching round his back to stop him from blast far away.

Rycu loosely grabbed onto Sky's arm as he was quickly losing his strength. Sky opened up her fist so her fingers were pointing out while she removed her other arm from Rycu's back. He could feel her fingers pressing against his stomach as her claws became shaper. Suddenly a claw launched from each finger and stabbed into Rycu's stomach a point blanc range which caused him to knocked back by the force of the attack. He fell to his hands and knees but with his left arm over his stomach wounds. Rycu glanced up just in time to see Sky raise her leather boot and kick him in the face which blasted him back and onto his feet as he slowly steadied himself. Before Rycu could even step forward again, Sky appeared in front of him again and once again punched him in the gut which this time blasted him back far and pushed the claws into his body further.

Blood poured out of Rycu non-stop. He felt the wound and realised the claws were too deep for him to simply pull out the way he was, "If things keep going like this then I won't even get a chance to move before I die," Rycu thought as he tried to regain his concentration in the fight. Sky could see how off-guard Rycu was with the pain he was in and tried to take advantage of finishing him off while she could. Rycu glanced up and saw Sky take a step forward before suddenly vanishing from that space. Rycu glanced around but couldn't see her at all, there wasn't even a trace of her movements. Rycu glanced behind him and saw a glance of Sky's bright white dress so he quickly swiped his fist behind himself. He saw as his fist swiped past nothing. He heard another noise and swiped back again but once again hit nothing.

"What's wrong Rycu? Am I too fast for you?" Sky chuckled. Rycu turned back were he heard the voice but quickly turned back as Sky's strong fist blasted into his gut, pushing the blades even further into his body. Sky gripped Rycu on the shoulder tightly to keep hold of him. Rycu's body gave way as he collapsed forward onto Sky but was still conscious. Sky grabbed Rycu's wrist and gripped tightly as she muttered, "So it appears you've reached your limit," Sky sighed as she aggressively threw Rycu across the floor, destroying a large section of trees within the blink of an eye with the speed Sky threw him. Sky looked on as Rycu's body laid there lifeless with a grin on her face as she stepped closer towards him, "I hope you're not through just yet Rycu, there's so much left in me that I just want to let it out on someone and you seem like the perfect toy for me." Rycu slightly glanced up in his battered body, "Fuck...you," he barely got the words out his mouth. Sky stomped onto his back with her boot and caused him to spit out blood, "Ah so there still is some energy left in you," Sky chuckled as she pressed down harder onto Rycu's back, "Don't worry though because I'll squeeze the rest out of you.

Natsu glanced back at all the destruction his attacks had caused in his new form, "I don't know what that was but that felt like the strongest I have ever been." Natsu looked down at his clenched fist, "When I was like that I could feel all the energy flowing through my body non-stop. All my attacks felt sharp and I could see through all of Sunjlie's attacks and movements. Sure I didn't manage to dodge everything but everything became clearer in my mind. This is the power I've been striving for isn't it?"

Natsu glanced to his right as he heard a noise. When he glanced Medusa stood tall on a nearby cliff edge. "Medusa!" Natsu shouted fiercely. Medusa could feel the power in his voice alone, "Yes, your power surely has in this instance has surpassed Rycu!" Medusa exclaimed in delight. "That's why I'm gonna be the one to take you down now!" Natsu roared out as fire wrapped around his body like a cocoon as his hands were pointing down to the ground. As Natsu lifted his arms the cocoon of fire busted and fire blasted all around around him like a tornado. Medusa looked on as she saw the lightning sparking throughout the fire but it had no affect on her seemingly.

"If that's all you're willing to show me then why don't I prove how outclassed you are," Medusa said fiercely as she held a hand up into the sky. Small dark green and black sphere sparking with energy appeared in her hand. Natsu noticed the charging attack and all the fire around him pulled together into a single great sphere of fire above him that got hotter and hotter by the second. "Take this!" Natsu shouted as he flung his hands forward, launching the fire towards Medusa. Medusa sighed, "How weak, you seemed much more stronger when you fought Sunjlie. It must have been that mysterious form you achieved, but you don't possess that currently."

Aggressively through her energy and within the blink of an eye, the great flaming ball vanished. Natsu was suddenly blasted back as he was hit by Medusa's energy, eventually crashing into a cliff which shattered it instantly at the bottom. Natsu looked back as he heard the constantly collapsing rocks which began to cause the cliff to fall. Natsu couldn't move himself in time and could feel as all the sharp edges of rocks cut against his skin. He quickly blasted all the rocks away as he surrounded himself in a thick aura of fire and stood up tall again. Medusa's eyes locked onto him as he stood up and she could sense a rise in power though it was miniscule to her. She saw all the marks she'd already left on his body, "This shouldn't take long."

Natsu bent his knees and shattered the ground all around him as he boosted forward at incredible speed that was impossible to keep up with, with the human eye. Medusa raised her hand and easily blocked his fist in an instant, the entire platform she stood on shattered as they both fell down. Natsu couldn't control himself and smashed into the ground as rocks continued to cover him while Medusa landed perfectly on her feet. Natsu glanced up at Medusa as rocks slid off of his body, "I don't get it, she's far above me in every category. Nothing I do can match her raw abilities, she hasn't even powered up in the slightest. How can we match up to this? Even against Sky alone it seemed Rycu was struggling, I have to take her out while I have this much of my power. I'm the only one who can since soon enough Rycu will most likely run out of energy," Natsu thought nervously.

Medusa leaped forward grabbing Natsu, as she blasted past she dragged his head through the ground causing him to bleed. Medusa placed her foot ahead of her to stop herself which stopped Natsu as well who could barely move. She leaned down next to his ear and whispered, "The Gods wont even be able to fix what I do to you." Natsu's eyes glanced over in shock at Medusa as he felt a rise in magic. Medusa's hand pointed down to where Natsu's body laid with a sphere of energy forming in her right hand mixed with different energies, "What is this?" Natsu thought as he slowly began to push himself off of the ground. Medusa jumped high into the air with the sphere still growing in his hand. Natsu managed to stand up and took to the sky as he saw the sphere growing.

All of a sudden it began to glow a light green but with black that looked like a liquid floating inside. "Nowhere to run Natsu! Lets see if you can block this!" Medusa threw the sphere forward at him before he managed to prepare himself. He held out both of his hands to block the sphere. As it made contact with his hand, it suddenly grew hundreds of sizes larger, "Impossible," Natsu thought in astonishment. Natsu's feet instantly sunk deep into the ground as the energy pushed against him, "I can tell from this alone she's not even trying, I don't stand a chance like this," Natsu thought as his hands pushed into the sphere.

Natsu roared as his body wrapped with fire once more and had electricity sparking through it. Natsu's fire flooded into the sphere as it became larger. Within seconds it had already doubled in size and was far stronger. "Does he have a death wish?" Medusa thought as she noticed what he was doing, "Well it'll certainly make this easier for me." Natsu was pushing back with all his force that he could even hear his bones being to crack, "I don't have time for this," he thought as he looked over to the demon as it roamed around causing chaos itself. Natsu closed his eyes as he stopped flooding energy into the sphere. "Well it seems like he has given up all hope," Medusa grinned as she pushed the sphere further.

Natsu was silent as he pushed against the sphere but he still managed to push it back. He could feel his hands broken to pieces but ignored the pain, "This isn't over yet," Natsu muttered as he took a step forward, pushing the sphere further away. Medusa looked in shock, "Impossible." Natsu's hands were as far as they could be into the sphere. Natsu clenched both his fists and pulled them out to the side. Medusa was in awe as the sphere of energy split into two, with one of Natsu's hands in each. The energy from each sphere was quickly absorbed into Natsu, "That trickster!" Medusa thought. Natsu opened his eyes and there was a great blast of wind, he took a step forward and caused the ground to shake beneath him.

"Medusa! Let me show you the true power hidden within me!"


	112. Thirty Minutes

Gildarts and Laxus stared directly on as they finally reached where Eileen stood. She glanced back as she heard their footsteps from behind. "Took you long enough didn't it?" She giggled as she fully turned her body around to face them. "Where were you this whole time? Nobody had seen you since we parted at that clock tower," Laxus explained. "That doesn't matter, none of it does right now. I'll explain later what happened but not till I see Rycu. Something doesn't seem right especially since I can feel the great flowing energy from the demon which clearly shows that they're most likely in danger," Eileen explained.

"We can't do anything about it though, we'd just be destroyed at this point anyway since its had time to grow its strength. Never mind the fact that there could be more dark wizards also," Gildarts explained. "So you're saying there's absolutely nothing we can do to aid them?" Laxus asked. "Yes, their location is too far away anyway to reach by the time everything will be done," Eileen continued. "What do you mean by that?" Laxus asked. "The council has already been alerted by this threat and have been preparing an energy cannon to kill the demon which will surely kill it even with its immense power. My estimate is it will take them another half hour before they fire the blast which is a shorter time anyway than what it would take for us to get there. The problem is that it's almost guaranteed that they'll all be dead by that time unless they manage to end this their self by any means necessary," Eileen said confidently.

Laxus turned away looking out into the distance, "What on Earth can we do if they all end up dying then?" "There is nothing that we can, the least we may be able to to is take out the last dark wizards if there are any left," Gildarts explained. Laxus punched his fist into his palm, with sparks of electricity bouncing out, "No, I know they will come back to us alive. The worst thing to have after they arrive back is Hilda being a pain trying to get to Rycu. So I say we take care of her together while we're at our best." "Well that's the best thing we can do right now, no way once they return they'll be able to fight at their best for a good while or even at all in the states they'll be in," Eileen explained.

"Well I guess now we'll have to find Hilda before she's gone completely and surprise us another time since she can't even be so far out this current area. Especially since she'll be keeping a keen eye for Rycu's return," Laxus explained. "It'd be better if we all went elsewhere for now however, with no hit of where she could be we'd just be wasting our time. The moment anything suspicious happens however we should all head there immediately," Gildarts explained. "That'll give me even more time to train, though if I'm honest the way things are basic training isn't going to boost me power much any more," Laxus explained as he stared down at his clenched fist. He walked to the edge of the cliff staring down at colourful lights being put up, he glanced back and nodded his head as he suddenly leaped off and couldn't be seen no more than a second thanks to the relentless blizzard. Eileen walked towards the path as she glanced behind at Gildarts, "Don't get yourself killed even before my son manages to get himself killed," Eileen chuckled. "You can rely on me," Gildarts grinned as he turned away and Eileen continued away.

Rycu's face was head-first in the ground as snow clouded up on his body, he could barely move any of his limbs with the added pressure of Sky's boot on his back. "You've worn out your usefulness," Sky sighed as she took her boot off of his back and kicked him in the stomach away. Rycu opened his eye as he looked up slowly. His gently lifted up his arm and slowly tried to push himself up but couldn't.

Sky quickly stood in front of Rycu and realised he was finished. She held her hand out in front at Rycu as a great force of energy began to charge. "It was fun while it lasted but I need to get rid of you soon enough. Medusa originally had different plans for you but there's no point in keeping you around any more so I'll get rid of your right now by myself," Sky explained. She edged closer towards him, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him up so he was level with her and they saw eye to eye. Sky moved her hand which was charging the energy to right in front of Rycu's stomach, "Goodnight Rycu," she whispered. The beam suddenly fired and blasted creating a bright light. Sky instantly felt a great just of wind zoom past her and she couldn't feel her grip on Rycu. She saw her beam pierce through the air.

Sky glanced behind and saw Rycu's barely conscious body in the hands of someone else. "You, I know you," Sky sighed as she turned herself around. "Oh course you know who I am," he grinned, "I'm Racer! The fastest man alive!" Racer had Rycu in his right hand and threw him back over his shoulder who was then grabbed by someone else, "Cobra, you and Angel take care of him," Racer ordered."We'll see how you can do on your own then," Cobra grinned. "I'm interested to know how well he does," Angle spoke. Cobra jumped far back and laid down Rycu's body, "You ok?" Cobra asked. "Yeah, where on Earth did you come though?" Rycu asked. "We came with Jellal, there's even more of us elsewhere. Jellal and Macbeth were handling one of them and we were sent elsewhere, we found a bunch of your allies turned to stone so I wouldn't say there's many of you left still active and even in your state it seems like you're finished. We sent Hoteye to help out Natsu so I'm sure Jellal and Macbeth would follow on with him. The ones that we found as stone, Racer rushed them to the guild hall nearby so you can thank him if he doesn't die by the time you get a chance to," Cobra explained.

Rycu tried to push himself up once more but still was too weak to push himself up and collapsed back to the floor, "Damn it I can't do anything." Cobra glanced back down at Rycu, "Leave it Rycu, we'll take over from now." Rycu looked at Cobra unsure but nodded his head. "Eh don't worry about it, we've still got others as backup so don't worry about it," Cobra assured as he stood up grinning, "I can read thoughts remember." Sky looked across at Racer irritated, "I don't want to be wasting my time on you so just go all out at the start for me." "I don't need to go all out to beat you," Racer muttered. There was a sudden blast of wind as Sky raised her fist. Racer's fist was suddenly blocked by Sky's palm of her hand. Racer looked in shock as Sky was even moved by the attack, "Impossible, how did she even know my attack was coming?"

"Simple attack," Sky muttered. "Lets see how you handle this then!" Racer shouted as he began to glow. He could even be seen any more from the speed he was moving at, Sky was blocking every push thrown at her with ease and not even flinching to any of his attacks. "I can't believe this, I can't land a single hit!" Racer thought in shock. Sky turned her head and her eyes locked in line with Racer. He was stunned for a moment and delayed his movement. Suddenly Racer was slammed into the ground from behind. He glanced back up in shock as he saw Sky floating there.

Cobra looked on at Racer as he was being beaten down effortlessly, "So this is what she has to offer, I'd hate to find out how strong Medusa is for myself. Their power is unfathomable in comparison to ours, then again, there's no point in simply giving up now." Sky shook her head in disappointment, "You're even less fun to toy with than Rycu. Your speed isn't good enough to land a hit on me and your attacks are too easy to read." Sweat dripped down Racer as he hesitated moving forward at all, "She handles everything I throw at her like it's nothing. My power like this alone doesn't stand a chance."

Racer circled around Sky as fast as he could which picked up heavy gusts of wind. A thick barrier of wind surrounded Sky that looked like a tornado, "Lets see if you can last in this!" Racer shouted. Sky stood through the winds and wasn't moved in the slightest, "The force isn't strong enough to even make her flinch." Racer began to run even faster that created great forces of winds around them that even pushed back Cobra and Angel slightly but kept hold of Rycu. Rycu looked forward and could tell though that as fast as Racer was, he wasn't managing to do anything to harm Sky whatsoever. He could tell there wasn't even a single mark on her any more from when he was fighting her before. Cobra clenched his fist as he came to the realisation, "Cobra, go help Racer before he gets himself killed," Rycu said. Cobra nodded his head, "Angel, look after Rycu, if things don't turn out now get him out of here."

"So I'm just the backup am I? At least I don't have to get my own hands dirty for now. Also I'd rather you refer to me by my real name, Sorano. Just like how I call you Erik," She chuckled. Rycu darted his eyes back forward and a thought came back to his mind, "Racer...his real name is Sawyer, I remember now. And Hoteye is Richard," Rycu realised. Erik stepped forward and stared directly at Sky who stared back at him directly through the strong wind. "Now's my chance," Sawyer thought as he leaped at Sky. She simply raised her hand and stopped Sawyer during his attack, "Damn it!" He thought as he was held in the air. Sky gripped tightly and slammed Sawyer into the ground, barely able to move after being worn down so much. "Don't tell me you're just as weak as your friends here," Sky said.

"Well I can guarantee I'll be able to land at least a hit on you," Erik stated. "We'll see about that," Sky responded. Erik instantly charged forward, "She's going to block with her right arm and try to cause me to miss and she'll attack." Erik swung his fist to her right but then quickly alternated, swinging around and kicking to her left with his foot. Sky quickly managed to switch her guard and block his kick, "She has a fast reaction time," Erik thought as as he raised his palm and pointed it towards Sky, a sound wave launched from his hand towards her. Sky was in shock as the wave hit her and blasted her back before she managed to control herself, "I told you I'd manage to land a blow on you," Erik grinned. "But that will be the only one," Sky muttered as she pointed her hand forward.

Erik looked confused for a second but was suddenly blasted back by a punch as Sky was suddenly next to him, "You let your guard down," She whispered into his ear. "I can't hear her thoughts," Erik thought. He jumped up in the air and swiped his hand, creating a large number of scale shaped masses of poison that were relentlessly launched out at Sky. She held her hand out as a beam of energy began to charge, "This is the end!" Sky shouted as the beam of energy launched and instant disintegrated Erik's attack and hit him directly with great force that damaged him greatly.

Sorano looked worried, "Seems like we'll have to get out of here soon Rycu. Things aren't looking good any more," she explained as she gently shook Rycu's body. Rycu looked up at Erik and Sawyer as they both lay on the floor. "Dammit, I can't let it end like this," Rycu thought as he glanced back at Sorano. "Rycu! Get outta here quick!" Erik shouted. Sorano grabbed Rycu's arm and put it round the back of her neck to hold him up. She tried to take a step back but Rycu's foot was firmly in the ground. "Rycu?" Sorano thought. He pushed her arm off of him and managed to stand on his two feet but was unable to even keep his back straight.

Erik noticed Rycu and looked on intently, wondering what he would do. "Sky!" Rycu shouted as she stood there. Sky turned around and faced Rycu, seeing how fragile his body was, "I'll end this." Sky dived into Rycu and smashed him against a tree, grabbing him by the neck and crushing it. "All these people devote their selves into protecting your life yet it'll all go to waste," Sky explained as she crushed his neck more. She pushed his up off of the ground a little as the rest of his body dangled above the floor. Rycu's vision began to fade as Sky could tell. She leaned in closer towards him while he was still conscious, "Sorry sweetie," Sky chuckled as she kissed Rycu on the cheek, "This is just the way things are."

Rycu dangled there thinking in his last moments, "This is the end, the end of it all. Not even everyone's powers combined is enough to take her down now. Everyone's hopes were placed in me to end this…but they've all just shattered to pieces. I'm not who I thought I was, but still… Natsu, everyone else, I can't bare their deaths to be in my hand can I?" A dark aura began to surround Rycu that wasn't at first noticeable but the slow rise in power was. The rocks below slowly began to shake and rise as something changed. Erik quickly realised and shouted, "Sorano, Sawyer! Put all your energy into Rycu!" Sky glanced behind at them and could feel the tremendous power rising, the ground was shaking wildy.

Sky glanced back at Rycu, he grabbed her hand fiercely and stared her in the eye directly. "How?" Sky thought. There was a sudden blast that knocked Sky back away from Rycu. Erik grinned at the sight,"He can stand a chance like that, his power I can't even imagine." Rycu looked down as the dark aura thickened even more as he stared down at Sky.

"It's time to turn the tables...Sky."


	113. Dark Dragon Force

**Here is by far my longest chapter and I'd say the best fight so far, I got carried away writing this one which resulted in 7,618 words ;3**

Erik grinned as he looked at Rycu, "Ha, he's had enough time to recover enough energy, with our energy combined it skyrocketed his power." Rycu glanced behind himself at Sorano, "Get Erik and Sawyer a safe distance away, this is going to get messy." Sorano nodded her head and quickly rushed over and moved them, rushing them a safe distance away. "Something seems different about his power, it's not the same as before. But I won't let that hold me back," Sky thought as she took a step forward.

Rycu's foot pressed forward as there was a long silence. Suddenly he blasted forward completely shattering the ground beneath him as he directed himself towards Sky. Rycu's first wrapped in a dark fire as he smashed it directly against Sky's face, causing her to blast back, unable to control her direction. "How did he do that, there was no sign of his attacks for me to block, just what is he doing to himself," Sky thought as she stepped forward again, "No matter though, I'll crush you as long as I live!" Sky blasted forward as well, clashing fist with Rycu as he was quickly catching up. They both threw relentless punches at each other as they quickly blasted forward, the punches could barely even be seen, their speed alone was impossible to keep up with.

"This, I've never felt power like it before, this is even more than what Medusa has ever shown to me!" Sky thought as she began to strike at Rycu faster and sharper but he was still blocking all of her blows as she was struggling with his, "He's not even breaking a sweat!" "The pain I've felt is what drives me forward, I've been of no use this whole time so I'll finally show you the power inside of me!" Rycu shouted as he broke through her guard but she quickly leaped back out of his range. "You should just learn when you're beat!" Sky shouted as a large beam shot out of her hand at Rycu. "From all I've been through, I've never met an opponent like you, and I know there's even more stronger than you. Not just here on Earth, but on distant planets and in different galaxies, the rush I feel excites me, and I want more of this exhilaration!" Rycu shouted as he deflected Sky's beam with a single hand.

"This is impossible! I had him on edge just a minute ago yet his strength has manage to rise above my own? Is this the same power as Natsu…? No, it's something far greater, some intense energy growing inside of him he's managing to control somehow. Is this the true power hidden within him? Is this his limit...or does he even have a limit to his strength.," Sky thought as she stumbled back. "It's like I said, it's time to turn the tables, you got your fun already so it's time for my own," Rycu said fiercely as the black fire wrapped around his hands once again. "I just don't get it! I can't accept defeat by the hands of him of all people! Who does he think I am!" Sky thought as she clenched her fist and was surrounded by a thick dark aura that looked like a giant flame. Rycu took a slight step back as he felt the intensity of her power, "She barely even grazing the surface of her power, I guess she never intended to use so much against me."

"I refuse defeat by the hands of you! You're just a monster! Nothing else!" Sky shouted as she charged forward, "Lets see how you can keep up with ten percent of my power!" "She's only going ten percent?!" Rycu thought in shock as his body froze. Sky punched him straight in the gut while he was open, blasting him back and sliding through the floor. Before Rycu managed to stop himself, he was kicked upwards by Sky who managed to rush past him. While he was in the air, he heard energy charging and could even feel it. He glanced behind himself and saw thousands of hands grouped together that all charged a beam. "Lets see how you deal with this!" Sky whispered into his ear and suddenly disappeared.

Rycu landed on his feet and saw the blinding bright light, "Dammit." He held both of his hands our forward with the dark fire which was quickly covered in multiple different elements as well but the were all a shade of black but there energies felt the same, "Twisted Dragon Eye Blaze!" Rycu shouted as a giant mountain sized blast was launched out of his hands full of all the different elements, compressed into a single laser beam. The beam instantly overpowered the one which Sky had shot. She realised instantly and moved out of the way as the beam blasted past her, creating a huge gust of wind which made her feet dig into the ground and push back. The beam destroyed everything, travelling on for miles before eventually vanishing completely. "Impressive, though I can feel his already using half of his power, this'll be over in no time," Sky thought as she stepped forward.

"That miniscule power will pale in comparison to my own," Sky claimed confidently. "We'll see if you actually show that power to me, "Rycu teased. "I don't need to waste so much on you!" Sky shouted as she pierced forward. Rycu rotated his body slightly and felt the force of Sky as she went past. Rycu glanced over as he saw he land further ahead, "And you expect to catch me off-guard with such slow speed? How pitiful." "I can't wait till your last breath," Sky sighed. There were sudden sound waves of their fist clashing in the air but neither Sky or Rycu were moving. The sound waves continued as they both concentrated heavily trying to land a blow on the other. Their eyes met from across each other and Rycu finally dived forward but suddenly stopped as he blocked Sky's punches though they were not even a meter apart.

Both of their fist were moving at an unbelievable speed that they could even be see by the naked eye. Rycu spiralled around and aimed to hit Sky's head with his foot but she managed to stop it centimetres away from her face with her left hand. With a hold of his left leg she quickly made a green shield around their selves with one of her magic hands which limited their area of movement. "If you're not careful then this won't end well for you," Sky grinned as the shield was surrounded a laser layer to make it impossible to touch without feeling immense pain in that area. "This won't end well for you as well though," Rycu pointed out as he was eager to get back into the fight. "But the difference is that I know what I'm doing here," Sky explained as she readied herself for what Rycu attempted next.

Rycu placed his hand on the ground as a blast of black fire blasted directly into the ground and spread all around the floor but stopped by the barrier. Sky stood through the fire unaffected, "Useless," she muttered as she leaped through the barrier unaffected. Rycu looked confused as the barrier began to shrink around him, "Did you really think my own barrier would stop me?" Sky said rhetorically. "Well it won't be enough to stop me!" Rycu shouted as his fist turned into an iron club but the metal was a black tinted colour. The metal clashed against the barrier as electric instantly bounced through Rycu's body but he was unable to absorb it into himself, "Give it up!" Sky shouted as she clenched her fist tightly which she was using to control the shield. It grew even thicker as Rycu pushed himself more but to no success, "I said...I won't...let this stop me!" Rycu shouted as fire busted out his feet and the shield began to crack.

Sky looked in awe as the shield was cracked all around as Rycu made one last push as his eyes went bloodshot. There was an explosion of light and energy as the shield completely shattered and Rycu launched up into the air as the shield pieces faded away into nothing. Sky let out a scream of pain as she looked at her gloved hand, "Dammit." She looked directly back up at Rycu and noticed some black marks begin to show on Rycu's arms, covering the marks he already had on himself. "No more games!" Rycu shouted as a beam of all the elements blasted out of his hands down on Sky. She dodged backwards as the force of wind coming from the blast of the attack managed to push her further. "It seems even ten percent of my power is useless against him, maybe I'll have to start trying a little harder," Sky grinned as she raised her magic energy.

"Are you trying to come across as threatening by raising you power?" Rycu said. "You'll be trembling at twenty five percent of my power!" Sky shouted as wind blasted out of her endlessly and it felt as strong as a tornado. "Just raising your power won't scare me," Rycu said confidently. "You're getting getting too cocky for your own good!" Sky shouted as she blasted past him within the blink of an eye, causing him to loses his balance in the air. "Why don't I shut you up then!" Sky continued as she put her hands together and smashed Rycu on the head with them which blasted him to the ground. Rycu looked up above him as he shook dirt off of his body, "We just keep going back at forth," he thought as he slammed his foot into the ground which cracked all around it, "But I will break that chain like I'll break her."

Rycu dodged to the side as Sky smashed into the ground where he was, as he moved he locked onto Sky's position and kicked her head into the ground. Rycu stood above pressing her head against the ground as his body wrapped in fire. Rycu leaped back as he saw Sky's slight movement. He held his hands together, creating a dark flaming sphere which he flung down towards the ground. Sky saw as the sphere got closer and dived out of the way as it collided against the ground. The sphere easily dug through the ground as Rycu flung his left arm to the side. The sphere turned around redirected at Sky against and blasted into her before she had a chance to dodge the attack. Rycu's eyes followed Sky as she was pushed through the floor by the sphere which constantly was being made larger, not stopping till Sky was crushed against a cliff wall which completely shattered it. The cliff wall caved in on itself and crushed Sky with rubble. She pulled herself up as all the stone slid off of her body, Rycu teleported in front Sky she still appeared fine. "Well your magic abilities are quite impressive and heavy hitting. But you your self have a clear weakness," Sky grinned.

Rycu looked slightly confused as he took a step back, "You're hand-to-hand combat skills are clearly lacking!" Sky shouted as she punched Rycu directly into his stomach, blasting him back. He looked up as he saw her leap at him, raising his left arm to block her punch. Sky's hand smashed against Rycu's arm, stopping her from getting another hit. Her leg swiped at Rycu's, knocking him off of his feet. As he fell, Sky grabbed Rycu's shirt, which was barely even together by this point, and pulled him forward quickly. She smashed her skull against his which knocked him straight to the floor with blood flowing down his head. "You're nowhere near the peak of your power!" Sky shouted as she pieced her fist into his stomach and blasted him through the floor in an instant, far through it. "Maybe you're right, I do have a long way to go, so if you're the barrier to unleash my full strength once more than so be it," Rycu explained as he dived at Sky as she dived at him.

They both leaned their fists back as they got closer. They clashed together creating a great sudden shock wave that caused the ground to shake rapidly. Everyone could feel the force of the two clashing and it caught the attention of everyone around. The shock waves could even be felt all the way back in the guild hall. Makarov looked onwards as he felt the energy and stood up, "It appears their intense battle continues." "I hope they don't turn back up in pieces, if they even make it back at all," Laxus sighed as he leaned up against the bar.

Sky and Rycu were stuck in their position, unable to overpower each other even at their best efforts. They were each surrounded by energy flowing off of their fists as they continued to struggle, "Give it up!" Rycu shouted as his fist was surrounded in black flames. He managed to push Sky back slightly further as she desperately tried to push back. Rycu managed to overpower her as his fist pushed through, knocking her back again. Sky looked at Rycu's arms again as the marks became more clear. The black she'd see were shaping into dragon scales but were clearly incomplete as it continued to shape and extend, "What is that?" she thought. Rycu dived forward and grabbed each of Sky's arms as he saw the opportunity. Rycu jumped up in the air and kicked Sky in the stomach with both of his feet as hard as he could. He let go of a single hand as he fell, he flung her forward ahead of himself. Rycu held his hands out as black fire wrapped around his hands, "Dark dragon blaze!" The fire blasted out of his hands like a tsunami of fire that blasted all over Sky as she was on the floor.

As the fire blazed around her she pushed herself up, taking the heat like it was nothing but a strong gust of wind. As he had the chance, Rycu looked at the black forming scales on his body, "What is this? It reminds me of dragon force but the scale marks on my body are dark instead." Rycu had a sudden thought as a thought jumped in his mind, "Lucifer, that's it. When he transferred the dark energy into me. It must be beginning to have an affect on me now, though this still incomplete since the scales are still growing," Rycu thought as he clenched his fist as a black aura appeared around it. Sky's eyes locked on him once again as the anger grew up inside of her, "I'll end you!" He could sense as her energy had risen once again. Rycu looked in shock as her sudden rise in power, "Face half my full power then!" Sky shouted as all the fire that had been created was immediately hit with the wind and began to spread around them faster, melting all the snow with only little of the fire being distinguished by it.

"How can this only be half of her power? It's unbelievable, if I don't step up my game soon enough then I'll be screwed with no way to overpower her," Rycu thought. Rycu was suddenly kicked upwards as Sky appeared behind himself, as he looked behind she disappeared again. He was knocked forward in the air then back again in an unthinkable speed that could be seen. He was continuously hit upwards with no way to stop. Suddenly Sky appeared above him and stomped on his chest which blasted him downwards. As he still laid on the floor looking up, Sky held both of her hands forward as an energy began to charge rapidly. Rycu managed to lean up as he saw the energy in her hands but was unable to more so quickly after being repeatedly hit for so long.

Sky launched the beam down at Rycu as he desperately tried to push himself up in time but didn't have to strength to do it. He looked down and closed his eyes as he braced for the impact. As he felt the heat of the attack he was suddenly knocked out of the way before he was hit. Rycu glanced up and saw Sawyer on the floor as he had dived into Rycu to dodge him out of the way of the attack, "You saved me?" Rycu asked. "Well I'm not just gonna let you die am I, don't give up on us now you're our only hope on dealing with her," Sawyer explained. "But I can't do anything now, I haven't got enough energy left in my to finish this, never mind the fact that she's only at half of her power. It's hopeless right now," Rycu explained. "What if I managed to buy you some time to regain your energy? Would that be enough for you?" Sawyer asked.

"It would be but you know she'll kill you! What about Cobra and Angel?" Rycu asked. "Hehe that doesn't matter. I took Angel back to the guild hall and Cobra went on to find Jellal and help against Medusa as he believed you could handle this. A sacrifice sometimes has to be made for the better," Sawyer explained, "My life was clouded by evil and I committed horrible deeds my whole life. Even with the help of Jellal I know nothing can ever be the same again. Even if I die nothing will change...I'm just nothing, and I'm fine with that," he continued as he took a step forward and braced himself. "I'll teach you not to interfere!" Sky shouted as she clenched her fist. "Don't," Rycu said as he crawled slightly forward. He looked at his arms and saw he still had his black scales, "Maybe there is a chance but I don't know how I deal with this."

Racer ran around Sky, dodging all of the fire that had been spreading in the meantime. Sky didn't even track his movements and just walked towards Rycu who was still on the floor. "She's just ignoring me?" Sawyer thought in shock as he charged at her instead. As Sawyer was close, Sky held out her hand behind her and caught his fist without even looking. She gripped tightly and glanced behind to see him, "You're nothing so don't even try," Sky explained as a beam shot out of hand she had used to catch Sawyers fist which blasted into him directly and knocked him away. She turned around and walked a bit towards Sawyer, "Flee now or the next time you try and attack me, it'll be the last thing you'll ever do," Sky explained. "Like I'm scared of threats from the likes of you!" Sawyer shouted as he dashed forward. He leaned back to throw a punch but as he did ran into Sky's fist, "You're predictable, never in a thousand years you'll be a challenge for me," Sky sighed.

"We'll see about that!" Sawyer shouted as he swifty lifted his leg to swipe and hit Sky's head. Sky ducked under the kick and held her hand forward, "The likes of you never listen."A blast launched out of Sky's hand point blank at Sawyer's skin and blasted in back with clear marks on his body. Sky walked over to Sawyer and stamped her boot on his body, "I'm the type of person who likes to keep to their word, so I suggest you should have just stayed down." Rycu looked on, feeling the dark energy begin to grow stronger and more dark scales quickly appeared all over his arms and some on the side of his body, "Don't do this Sky!" "Shut up," Sky muttered as she shot a beam right in front of Rycu. Sky leaped backward and held her hand forward as a bright energy began to glow. Sawyer stood up barely able to move himself with a grin on his face.

"Goodbye," Sky muttered as a bright sharp beam shot out through her hand directly at Sky. Just as Sawyer prepared to dodge, two bright grapple looking objects made of light energy pieced through his foot and stopped him from moving. Rycu noticed as he tried to push himself forward, "SAWYER!" A grin pulled across Sky's face as the sharp beam shot from her hand pierced through Sawyer's heart. The was a long silence as he coughed up blood and Rycu looked in shock. "Just for good measure," Sky said as she clenched her fist which caused the beam inside of him to explode with energy inside of his body. Sawyer collapsed to the floor as the blood poured out his mouth, "Hehe, sorry Rycu...I let you down. There was nothing, no movement, no more breathing, just silence which was suddenly broke by Sky's laughs.

"What a joke," Sky chuckled as she turned back around to Rycu. He stared in amazement, not knowing what to do or say, "Sawyer...you gave up your own life to keep mine going. You put all your hope into me to end this..." "Now I'll finish you off once and for all Rycu," Sky sighed. There was a longer silence as Rycu pushed himself onto his knees, "SSSSSSSSSSSSKKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYY!" Rycu shouted as a heavy blast of wind came off of that pushed Sky back and made her struggle to push forward. The black scales appeared around most of Rycu's arms and more on the sides of his body. The remains of Rycu's shirt was disintegrated in the sheer force alone of his anger.

Sky could feel the exploding energy in Rycu, "Impossible, how could he be this strong?" She examined Rycu quickly and saw all the scales around his body, "He's managed to unleash the power of this form he was gaining through our battle. How impressive." Rycu's eyes stared fiercely at Sky's as he approached her. "You can feel my wrath. I'll make you feel the power of Dark Dragon Force!" Rycu shouted as everything was shaking around him. As he stepped forward a huge flaming aura glowed around him with magic energy rapidly excessing off of himself. Everything went still for a moment as Rycu clenched his fist. All of a sudden Rycu dives forward as Sky raised her guard. She waited for the impact but their wasn't one. She glanced behind her in confusion as Rycu wasn't there. Rycu stood tall behind her not even facing her. Sky let down her guard as she turned around to Rycu but was suddenly punched backwards and immediately smashed into a wall.

Sky looked forward in confusion as Rycu turned around, "He was so fast to hit me when my guard was down instantly without me seeing?" She pulled herself up and charged forward instantly at Rycu as he was still turned around, only glancing around instantly. Sky punched at Rycu in pure anger but Rycu disappeared as her fist went straight through it. She looked on in confusion as she hit nothing and as she turned around she was hit by a sudden kick to the face as she caught a glance of Rycu. "Impossible, how could he match up to this much of my power?" Sky thought in disbelief. "What happened to you, I'm not even trying right now," Rycu sighed. Sky held her hand forward as a blasted launched out at Rycu, he held his hand out and redirect the blast with the simple swipe of his hand. He teleported behind Sky as he ducked down while pulling Sky's hair downwards to greater a greater opening. As Sky's back was clearly visibly curved, Rycu kicked Sky with great force in her back which blasted her up into the air as he let go of her hair.

Sky managed to turn herself around in the air and saw Rycu down there beneath her, "I won't lose to the likes of you!" she shouted as she created another great blast of wind, releasing more energy. "Try seventy five percent of my power! If this doesn't work I'll have no choice!" Sky shouted. "Using the copies rapidly drain my energy, I shouldn't use them otherwise I'll be digging a hole for myself," Rycu thought to himself. Sky looked down with the rage building up inside of herself, in pure rage she blasted forward at Rycu, striking at him once again. Rycu stepped to the side and dodged her blow as he felt the strong wind of the force of the punch. Rycu and Sky both pressed their foot forward and launched at each other, they launched rapid punches at each other that could barely be seen with the naked eye but they both continuously got faster, testing their power in comparison. They both leaned down and kicked upwards at each other with their leg blocking each others. Sky quickly spiralled around and kicked Rycu in the other side of the face, knocking him to the floor.

Sky leaped back holding both of her hands together as a beam of energy charged. "Try this out!" Sky shouted as a giant bright blast launched out of her hands directed at Rycu. The beam was easily tens of meters tall and wide as it destroyed everything in its path. Rycu teleported away while he could as he saw the beam Sky shot head directly for a mountain, as the beam hit it shattered the mountain completely as it turned to almost entirely rubble with barely any actual structure left. Rycu boosted forward and knocked Sky higher by hitting her in the jaw from below, "My turn now," he muttered as he teleported above her. Sky glanced up as she saw Rycu, raising her guard. Rycu grabbed both of her arms, pushing them out to the side to stop her, "What happened to all your confidence, claiming that you could beat me?" Rycu asked as he kicked her in the stomach once and diving forward, headbutting her as he let go.

As Sky fell down Rycu dived forward and grabbed Sky tightly, speeding himself up and smashing her through the floor. Sky pushed Rycu off of him as they stopped in the ground, Sky held her hand up as she blasted a beam of energy which pushed Rycu far out of the hold while Sky pulled herself up. "I'll end this now!" Rycu shouted as he began to quickly charge a beam in his hands. Sky looked up as she saw the attack charge and grinned, "Hit me with everything you've got!" Rycu's eyes went bloodshot as a great black beam the size of a mountain was fired from Rycu's hands alone as he shouted, "Twisted Dragon Eye Fury!" Sky held her arms out to take the hit with a grin on her face as the blast pushed her and destroyed everything around her. Rycu let out a shout as his blast continued to push onwards. The beam disintegrated almost everything in its path, complete destruction. Rycu panted heavily as the blast stopped, exhausted after the attack.

He looked down at Sky with a grin as she laid on the floor, slowly breathing, "I...did...it?" Rycu thought as he laid on the floor. Rycu looked at himself and saw the wounds all over his body, "Guess I'll need a new shirt," he sighed. There was sudden laughter, Rycu crawled over and saw Sky's body turn over while laughing, "You think you've won? How cute, I told you I've only used seventy five percent of my power! Why don't I show you the rest?" Rycu pulled himself up in disbelief as Sky got up perfectly fine, "Impossible, how did she take that?" "Allow me to show you my last trick!" Sky shout in joy as she grabbed the end of her leather glove on her right hand. She pulled off the glove at once, and what was beneath was a bright light on her hand. It was actually the complete thing, her entire hand was surrounded by the bright light and when she pulled off the other glove it was the same.

"This is my curse, I've had it ever since I was a child," Sky explained as she looked at her hand. "Curse?" Rycu thought. "Thanks to this, I was seen as an outcast as I was too dangerous to them. I was isolated, unloved, lonely. That's what lead me to here, Medusa was the only person who accepted me and saw potential within me. Without her I'd be nothing still," Sky continued as she stepped forward. Rycu was at a loss for words as he pulled himself up, "As much as I feel sympathy for you for your past, that doesn't change now. You killed my comrade and plan to kill thousands of innocent people for not being accepted by everyone? Times change, I know your past must be upsetting but you have to let go of it. If I have to stop you then so be it," Rycu explained as he stepped forward. Sky was silent, "None of that matters any more," Sky suddenly spoke, "I'm like this now and I can't change that, I'm too far gone to change my ways."

Sky placed her hand gently against the floor and shattered it with a single touch. Sky grinned, "You don't know what you're dealing with now." Sky leaped at Rycu who raised his guard, he could feel the heat from so far away. Sky punched against Rycu's arm, he immediately felt the pain and lowered his guard, "It burns and stings so much, what the hell is this?" Sky quickly punched Rycu across the face which made him stumble backwards as he felt the strong sting again. She then followed up by leaning back and kicking Rycu from the bottom of his head near the neck which blasted him upwards. "She not even trying with this any more. This must be why she only uses this is desperation. Still, I can't let this get the better of me now." Rycu saw Sky appear above him as he fell. Rycu dodged to the right mid-air as he saw he attack. She was in line with him though so while she had the chance, Sky grabbed Rycu by the neck and pushed him downwards head-first.

Rycu was to distracted by the stinging to try and push back as they got closer to the floor. They both smashed into the floor with Rycu being hit first. Once they stopped there was a giant crater where they were blasting down. Rycu couldn't move with the force she had. Sky junped away, back flipping onto a ledge to let Rycu get up. "My dark dragon force is completely useless now. She's overpowering me by too much to bring this back," Rycu thought as he pulled his shaking body up. He panted heavily as he pushed forward, closer towards Sky, "I'll give you one more chance Rycu before I end you," Sky grinned as she seemed relaxed. Rycu leaped up at Sky, punching towards her position. As his fist pulled through, Sky quickly managed to move behind him and with both of her hands, she smashed them down on Rycu's back, smashing him through the floor and creating another giant crater. Sky landed in front of Rycu as he was on his hands and knees, she put her boot on his head and pushed it down, "Then again, if you just submit to me I may be able to spare your life, you've proven your worth." Rycu spit out blood to the side and stared up at Sky slightly, "Like hell I'd submit to you." Sky took her boot off of his head and pulled it back, kicking him directly in the face. He laid on his back as his vision began to become blurry and he felt the scales on him begin to disappear, "I'm running out of time, this really is the last shot I've got," Rycu thought as he pulled himself up while Sky jumped to the edge of the crater, staring down at him.

Sky leaped at Rycu, shattering the ground the pieces beneath her. Rycu held his hand out as Sky got closer, he caught her fist in his hand and his feet immediately were pushed through the floor. Rycu could feel the stinging and tried to maintain it, "Don't bother trying to fight it Rycu, you know you don't have the strength hold up!" Sky exclaimed as she pushed more. Rycu managed to duck as he let go of Sky's fist, causing her to fall forwards over him slightly. Rycu punched upwards at Sky's stomach which was directly above him. Sky managed to grab Rycu's arm and use it to pull herself to the side away from his fist. She spun around and kicked Rycu in the head, knocking him back to the floor again.

Rycu laid on the floor with one eye slightly closed as his fingers buried deep into the ground and black fire began spreading out of them. The entire area around him and Sky suddenly blasted from below as Rycu dived forward. He glanced behind his shoulder as the whole floor collapsed and noticed Sky's dress slightly sticking out from the rubble. There was a bright light as all of the stone began to glow a bright yellow, Rycu looked wide-eyed as all of the stone suddenly exploded. He ducked down his head as rocks flew over and onto him. When he looked back he couldn't see Sky standing there but when he turned back around he was kicked with a great force which knocked him down into the centre of the crater. "It's like I said before, you have potential but you don't know how to unleash it," Sky explained. Rycu spread his arm ahead of himself, panting heavily,"I don't need your damn advice," he panted as he pushed himself up slightly. Sky glanced down at him, "I'm sick of hearing this bullshit out of your mouth so I'm gonna finish this already. My body has gone through enough torture as is," Rycu said as he clenched his fist with blood flowing down and his scale marks had completely disappeared, leaving him in his base form.

"You think in a state like that you stand a chance? How foolish," Sky sighed. "You fail to see something in battle, it doesn't always rely on your raw strength alone. But that's all what matters to you brain-dead fools isn't it? You think that strength is absolute, that it can keep you from pain and suffering. Well I'm afraid you're wrong," Rycu said as he took a strong step forward. "What do you mean then?" Sky asked as she was interested into what he said. "Strength is only part of the battle. No matter how big the gap in strength may be, it can and will never stop me. Fuck whoever the challenger is, weather that even be a god, nothing can ever hold down my hope till my last breath," Rycu finished. "Well then I can certainly make this your last minute alive," Sky chuckled. "Go ahead, even if you kill me it will always go around full circle one day, just you wait. I've come far to give up now, lets end this," Rycu explained. "Gladly," Sky grinned.

Rycu and Sky both launched at each other in an instant, catching each others fist mid air, "Give it up Rycu, it'll only be a matter of time now till you're finished for good!" Sky shouted as she kicked him in the face while flipping backwards. She swiped her hand to the side as a yellow flame suddenly ripped from out of nowhere, shooting golden flaming spheres constantly at Rycu while he boosted himself forward towards Sky. He dodged around pierced through the beams as he got closer towards Sky, striking his fist. She managed to catch Rycu's arm quickly an inch away from her face. Rycu appeared to be handling the stinging fine now as he took it just fine, "How does he have this much energy left in him? Minutes ago he was completely drained!" Sky thought in shock as she pushed Rycu away.

"You realise you stand no chance without your magic!" Sky shouted as she dashed towards him again, punching him against his wrist and blasting them both into a mountain, shattering it to pieces. They both separated, leaping onto different masses of rock and leaped around on different pieces of the mountain as it collapsed. "I don't need my magic to win right now," Rycu grinned as he leaped to attack. Sky rolled her eyes at his overconfidence, "How could this feel think he has a chance like this?" She grabbed his fist and grinned, "There's no hope for you just admit it." She spun Rycu around multiple times before throwing him out the other side of the mountain.

Rycu looked forward seeing Sky land as he controlled himself and managed to make himself land on his feet. They both dived forward once again, colliding their skulls together, bouncing each other back. Rycu was visibly shattered but still kept pushing himself more and more to keep on fighting before he ran out of time, "I can do this," he thought to himself. As he stepped forward, he fell onto one of his knees, "Just accept it Rycu. You can't change fate,"Sky explained. He looked down to the blood and sweat pouring down his hands, "Maybe you're right, I can't change my inevitable end, but there's one difference. This isn't where my story ends," Rycu explained as he pushed through the pain once more. Sky shook her head and charged forward. Rycu grinned as he held his hand out, "He's trying this again is he?" Sky thought.

Instead Sky kicked to the side try to hit him somewhere else. Rycu's arm suddenly raised to the side and caught her foot as he stared her directly in the eye. Just from that stare alone she could tell something wasn't right, "How can he look at me with such confidence? He couldn't have mastered my attacks!" Sky tried to punch Rycu directly in the face but once again the attack was blocked by Rycu's other hand. "You said my hand to hand combat skills were lacking so I took it upon myself to learn all of your attacks during the fight," Rycu explained with confidence. "Impossible!" Sky shouted as she threw rapid punches at Rycu barely able to even be seen. Rycu managed to block and dodge every single blow she sent out effortlessly. Sky noticed none of her attacks managing to land so she sped up her punches even more but Rycu's feet still never even moved. She let out a scream of anger as a light blast knocked Rycu back but he still managed to land on his feet.

Sky shouted as she held her hand forward, "I'll erase you!" A beam launched forward at Rycu that he easily dodged to the side of. The beam shot past and smashed into a stone wall, creating an open part of it. Sky quickly blasted forward at Rycu, smashing against his wrist and pushing them both forward until they smashed against stone wall. They both jumped to a different side of the wall from the small area the carved in with their attacks. They repeatedly jumped from the wall towards each other and collided their fists trying to hit each other before jumping right back to the wall and repeated it until they reached to the top. As they jumped up the last time they managed to strike each other across the face. Sky quickly followed up however, grabbing Rycu and throwing him through the rest of the cliff they originally attacked each other in.

There was a blast of light as a huge portion of the cliff exploded with the rocks even reaching up to Sky who was far above. Rycu stood in front of the cliff as he managed to gather enough energy to create a black flame in his hand. Sky looked down seeing the flame rise in Rycu's hand. He suddenly disappeared as Sky was hit in the back to the ground instantly. Sky glanced up as Rycu pierced into Sky and smashed her through the entire cliff, letting her go as he made it back to the open area and watching her slide through the floor. Rycu jumped above above onto a ledge as Sky instantly jumped up at him. As she was within reach, Rycu grabbed onto Sky and used her to turn him self around and kick her upwards. Sky managed to stop herself in the middle of the air clearly angered.

"Why don't I give you an attack you can't dodge!" Sky shouted as she began charging up and energy from her hands. "I'll end it now," Rycu thought as his entire body began to blow with a bright aura. "I'll put you in your place!" Sky shouted as a beam launched from her hands bigger than even the blast the size of a mountain last fire. "If I don't manage to stop this then it has enough force to completely destroy everything, even this entire forest at a minimum," Rycu thought. Rycu let out a great roar as a giant explosion of light surrounded him and was about the size of Sky's blast. "This is everything I have!" Rycu shouted as the two beams clashed. They each got bigger the longer they collided and were quickly double their original size.

Rycu continuously let out his roar as the two beams pushed closer together. Sky looked down in shock as Rycu was still managing to hold up, "He's releasing every drop of magic energy in his body in order to stop this. He way kill himself at this rate for me. But, I won't let him prove his strength over me," Sky thought as she released even more energy into the blast. Rycu looked on nervously as the beam began to piece through the wall of energy blasting in all directions off of him and his sphere began to shrink. "He won't last much longer now, he's running out of energy rapidly," Sky grinned as she forced even more energy into her attack and pushed the energy in further. Rycu was trying his best to keep up a strong wall of magic energy but it was being forced he was as the shield was beginning to be bent inwards by Sky's attack.

Rycu let out an even louder roar as his sphere of energy began to extend slightly, "I can feel more energy within me but I can't release it all." "Why aren't you dead yet!" Sky shouted as she released even more of her energy. The beam instantly blasted further forward and shrunk the sphere of energy again so it was only tens of meters tall now in comparison to Sky's beam which was multiple of times larger. Rycu saw as his energy began to become weaker and was heavily being dominated. The energy continuously shrunk until the sphere was so small that Sky's blast was in meters of Rycu. "I won't let it end like this!" Rycu shouted as he let out a great roar of anger that could be heard even over the clashing energies. Rycu's sphere instantly swelled in size as he felt all his energy disappearing from his body. "Impossible!" Sky shouted as her beam was quickly being pushed back. Rycu's energy had grown far larger to the size of multiple small mountains combined together. The gap had now switched with the difference being meters within Sky being crushed by the energy. "IT'S...OVER!" Rycu shouted as he made one last push. Sky let out a scream of pain as the sphere over powered her beam and she was caught in the blast and surrounded by relentless stinging pain as the sphere continued. "How...how could he…defeat me..." Sky thought as she lost consciousness and her body fell, smacking against the floor.

Rycu's blast all of a sudden vanished as his body was bent over, panting heavily, "I...did...it," Rycu panted as relief as he stumbled forward to the unconscious Sky. He looked to the sky as the snow began to coat his body again, "Sorry Natsu...it's down to you now. Don't let me down," Rycu muttered as he suddenly collapsed to the ground directly next to Sky as the snow slowly piled around them while his bones stopped tensing up and all was quite for then.

Medusa and Natsu both stayed across of each other as they sensed Rycu's battle finally come to an end, "Well it seems like it's just me and you left now," Natsu grinned. "Impossible, how could she lose at her full power, it's unthinkable," Medusa said in shock. "Well I know if he managed to win, I can as well!" Natsu said as he blasted forward by the fire on his feet. "Don't get cocky, I'm far superior than Sky, she's nothing to me but fodder now. They've all proved their uselessness if I have to handle this on my own," Medusa sighed as she knocked Natsu out of her path with a single push to the side.

"Well if this is how this must end then so be it."


	114. A Sign Of Hope

Jellal rushed forward after seeing the show of energy blasts from Sky and Rycu with Macbeth directly behind him, "Everything seems to have died down, do you think their fight has ended?" Macbeth asked. "I can't sense much magic energy over here any more so I would say at the least they managed to exhaust themselves at the least," Jellal explained. He stopped in his position as he began to sense another magic energy near them, "Someone else?" Macbeth asked in confusion as he halted his movements. Jellal nodded his head as he glanced behind to see a faint image running towards him. Macbeth noticed as well and dashed forward, "Erik!?" he shouted as he recognised the scar on his eye.

They quickly were face to face as they stopped running, "Weren't you going to help Rycu?" Jellal asked in confusion. "I did help him a bit but we were nothing against Sky. All I managed to do was lend my energy to him and hope he could handle her. Sawyer took Sorano back to the guild hall to keep watch on some stone statues we found of allies while I was going to head to help out Natsu before I felt Rycu's die down and everything became more quiet over where he was fighting so I was gonna rush and find out what had happened and hope he was actually still alive," Erik explained.

"I see," Jellal whispered as he glanced ahead of themselves. "Well since we're united we may as well find out now and then move on to Medusa quickly," Macbeth explained as he began to rush ahead again. "Tch, wait up why don't you!" Erik called as he rushed ahead as well. Jellal clenched his fist and thought for a brief moment, "All I know of right now is Rycu and Natsu still in action among with us. With those stone statues could Erza be among them now as well?" Jell shook away the thought as a slight tear brimmed in his eye, "It's hard to think such heartless people could exist. I'll crush them myself if I have to, as my revenge for Erza."

"Are you just gonna stand there or come with us!? Hurry up!" Erik shouted back. Jellal glanced ahead at Erik as he loosened himself, "Just stay focused for now, don't let my anger take the better of me now." Jellal quickly rushed forward as everyone was already hundreds of meters away. As they ran they saw the countless number of destroyed mountains and hills with craters in the floor that Sky and Rycu had made. "They caused so much destruction," Erik thought in disbelief, "Hard to believe Rycu managed to push himself this much more despite already being heavily weakened. I'd hate to imagine his capabilities at full power without being drained of so much energy." Macbeth looked around but didn't take it in much and just focused on where he was going. Eventually they found themselves at the foot of a giant crater in the floor, "This may have been where their battle ended," Macbeth explained as he looked around to see no more leads of damage.

"Yes this must be where I felt their two great energies clash before they both died down," Jellal explained as he leaped down, closer towards the centre of the crater as he spotted something. He raised his hand and pointed ahead at two bodies laying on the floor, "There!" He shouted as he rushed ahead to them. He saw both Sky and Rycu's body laying motionless as Erik and Macbeth approached as well. "They really went all out didn't they," Macbeth said as he checked Rycu. Erik went over and checked on Sky, her hands still had a slight glow but no where near as bright as they were before. "He's still alive," Macbeth sighed in relief as he stood back up. "Same here," Erik said. Jellal looked how battered Rycu was with cuts and bruises all over his body, "They were merciless against each other clearly."

Rycu's eyes slowly opened as his body shook while hearing voices. Rycu looked up slightly as his body could barely move. Jellal leant down at Rycu as he saw his body move while both Erik and Macbeth just let out a sign of relief. "Good to see you're still with us," Jellal grinned as he checked Rycu's body more for serious injuries. "At that rate it may not be for long the way I'm felling," Rycu sighed as he tried to push himself up with no success. "So you managed to take her out fine on your own?" Erik asked as he looked around a bit. Rycu went silent a moment as he remembered about Sawyer, "No," he muttered as he tried pushing up again. Everyone paused a moment and looked at Rycu, "What do you mean?" Macbeth asked.

"When I was close to defeat, Sawyer intervened and took on Sky while I was defenceless," Rycu began before his body smacked against the snow coated floor again. "And?" Erik asked. "While I was still on the floor, Sawyer bargained his life to buy me more time to recover. Right before my eyes, he died," Rycu finished as everyone was silent. Everyone looked around in complete shock as the words faded away. "I-impossible," Erik said in shock as he stumbled back, "That bitch can't have killed him, there's no way!" he exclaimed as he pointed down at Sky's body. Rycu grabbed onto Jellal and used him to pull himself up while keeping quiet. Jellal slowly looked around in confusion as his words couldn't escape his mouth. Macbeth turned away with a deadly look on his face as he had his arms crossed tightly, "Hard to think he'd actually sacrifice himself for someone like you."

Rycu let go of Jellal as he turned around and stumbled in that direction. Jellal and Erik followed behind as Macbeth glanced around his shoulder. He stopped his movements and looked down where he saw a red patch of blood on the snow. Rycu held his hand out as a tiny flame appeared in his palm, "Dammit I have practically no energy left in me." Jellal could tell what the blood was and kneeled down next to the large pile of snow as he began to swipe it away. Erik stared down as Sawyer's body was visible. He clenched his fist tightly as he turned around to face Sky's body but restrained himself from acting and turned back around. Erik glanced at Rycu and saw how fragile his body was, he was constantly panting for his breath and he had marks and cuts all around his body. Erik placed his hand on Rycu's shoulder as there was a bright red glow coming out of him hand. "What are you doing?" Rycu asked. "I'm sharing my energy with you, you're no use to us if you can't do anything," Erik explained as he pulled his hand away. "Thanks," Rycu said as he felt he could move his body more as the energy rushed through him. Jellal finished wiping away the snow and could see where the would was on Sawyer. His body was completely stiff. "I didn't want it to end this way," Jellal sighed as he picked up Sawyer's body from the snow.

Rycu turned around and thought to himself, "This is all my fault. If it wasn't for me then he'd still be alive right now. Maybe all that I do is cause death and destruction. No matter how hard I try, I'll always end up getting someone killed." Rycu let out a sigh as he glanced at Sky, "I can't let this take me over now, I have to keep focused, otherwise I'll just be beaten around like a toy. Still, Sky was ridiculously powerful and Medusa is supposed to be way more powerful than her so it'd be a joke to think we have a chance anyway." Sky's body suddenly twitched as her breathing began to get heavier. Macbeth heard her slight movements behind himself and turned around, "Well it seems she herself has awakened," Macbeth explained as he caught everyone else's attention. Jellal stepped backwards slightly as Sky pushed herself up slightly as she glanced upwards towards Erik who approached.

Rycu could tell the anger in Erik wanting to burst out, "Control yourself Erik," Rycu said. Sky chuckled as she pushed up slightly more, "So I lost to Rycu and now I'm surrounded by you lot, how could this get any worse." "You're the one who killed Sawyer, and I'm gonna make sure that you pay for it," Erik explained as he clenched his fist and a red and black aura appeared around it. "Go ahead, I'd like to see what you can do since I can't fight back," Sky grinned. "You won't be able to say back your cocky insults when I punch your mouth shut," Erik threatened. "Go ahead and kill me now why don't you, I failed and now there's nothing else for me. If I don't die now when I get back my energy I'll just shatter you all to pieces," Sky explained. "Don't let her provoke you. She's already beaten just leave her," Rycu explained as he created a flame in his hand. "Shut your mouth Rycu. She killed one of our own, and I can't let that go by," Erik explained. "Just hit me already, or are you that scared of what I'll do?" Sky giggled. "JUST SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" Erik shouted as he stuck Sky across her face and blasted her backwards through the floor.

"I told you to not hit her!" Rycu shouted as he blasted forward and smashed his fist across Erik's face, blasting him through the floor also. Jellal and Macbeth looked on with no words to say. "Listen carefully to what I say, Erik, you take Sawyer's body back to the guild hall with Angel. Meanwhile, Macbeth and Jellal, you go help and find Natsu, I know for a fact he can't win on his own," Rycu explained. Erik pulled himself and glanced over at Rycu, "What about you then?" he asked. "I'm gonna finish up here then I'm gonna handle that demon, if we don't take it out soon enough then we'll all be killed in its path," Rycu continued. "That's insane, how do you expect to take it out on your own?" Macbeth asked. "Also your incredibly low on magic energy, I can split mine with you," Jellal explained as he held his hand out and a beam of energy shot out of his hand and connected with Rycu. Macbeth did the same.

Rycu let out a sigh as he was full of energy once again, "Even if I'm not enough to kill it, I'll delay it long enough for you to finish things with Medusa and escape." "We can't just let you die!" Erik exclaimed as he shot up from the floor. "It doesn't matter, as long as nobody else's life is lost," Rycu finished as he stepped towards Sky. Erik walked over and took Sawyer from Jellal and turned around, "Just promise me this, don't just go and sacrifice yourself, at least put up a fight will you." Rycu clenched his fist, "I promise." Jellal and Macbeth began to walk off as well to find Natsu, glancing behind before disappearing.

"Just getting your friends out of the way are you? Ha, that doesn't matter, the demon will tear you apart in a matter of seconds if you try and engage with it. You're just gonna gamble your life weather you'll survive long enough to see Medusa fall. Thing is, Medusa won't lose. At least not to the like of you lot," Sky explained as she pushed herself up. "So there are people beyond her power?" Rycu asked. "Of course, she's just so full of herself and her power. Thing is there will always be someone stronger," Sky explained as she pulled herself onto her knees. Just thinking about it Rycu struggled to picture a being with the power over Acnologia. "The only things above us all are Gods and all of them have limitless power to destroy galaxies in an instant, something none of us could ever triumph over. Of all things I want Medusa to lose, it would be enough for me to finally tear away from her and drop the past," Sky explained.

"Wait what do you mean by that?" Rycu asked in confusion. "It's true when I said Medusa took me in but she never did it for good intentions. I was young when she found me laying in the street in my own tears..."

 _ **Flashback**_

"What's wrong little one?" Medusa asked as she kneeled down next to the young Sky who had a puddle of tears around her. Sky slowly opened her eyes as a stream of tears flowed out, "My...parents abandoned me here," Sky stuttered as she looked up at Medusa. Medusa put her hand to Sky's cheek and stroked it, "What horrible people would do such a thing to an innocent child," Medusa said sympathetically as she noticed Sky's glowing hands she tried to hide. "Why on Earth would they abandon you then?" Medusa asked. Sky was silent for a while as her tears began to slowly stop, "It's because I have a curse," Sky explained as she held her hands out forward hesitatingly. Medusa stared at it in wonder and held her finger out to touch it but Sky pulled her hands away.

"Don't do that...or...or...it will hurt you," Sky stuttered again as she stepped back. "Don't worry little one, you can trust me," Medusa assured as she slowly held her hand out towards Sky. Sky glanced away and thought for a moment and glanced off to the side where she saw six other people standing a distance away so she couldn't make them out very much. "Who are they?" Sky asked as she finally held her hand out forward to Medusa. "Don't worry about them, they're just my allies coming along with me," Medusa explained as she touched Sky's palm of her hand. She could feel the stinging sensation as she felt and continued to examine her. "Where are you and your friends going?" Sky asked. "We're on an adventure," Medusa began before she was immediately cut off, "An adventure to where?" Sky asked. "We want to find an object called the Orochi, with it we can finally start our plan," Medusa explained.

"W-well what is your plan then?" Sky asked nervously. "That's something that you cannot know yet," Medusa explained as she let go of Sky. "Aw but I want to know!" Sky exclaimed as a sad expression came across her face. "Well why don't I make you an offer then since you've been so nice?" Medusa asked. "An offer?" Sky asked in confusion. "If you tag along with me and my friends, I can teach you how to survive like and look after you. Only thing is, once you join me you will never be allowed to leave me till the day you die," Medusa explained as she held her hand out. Sky looked in shock but thought about what Medusa said. "Since I have nowhere to go now I may as well come with you," Sky explained as she reached out for Medusa's hand.

"Good. Now then, my name's Medusa, what is yours?" She asked. "I'm...Sky..." She said as she stared up at Medusa nervously. "Pleasure to have you accompany me and my friends, you can rest now though," Medusa explained as she picked up Sky and let her rest against her. Sky closed her eyes and fell fast asleep quickly as Medusa gestured everyone else to come forward. "Why do you think she took in that child?" Jax asked Flace. "I don't really know but she clearly is intrigued by the kid," Flace explained as they began to follow Medusa who was a little ahead. A grin came across Medusa's face, "She's perfect."

Sky glanced up at Rycu, "From there on things became how I never expected them to be," Sky explained. "Go on," Rycu said. "Medusa...was desperate to say the least, to unleash my full potential. She...she," Slight tears began to form in Sky's eyes which caught Rycu's attention, "Everyday, was constant pain and suffering, she was completely brutal to me. She beat me, tortured me mentally and physically day in day out to try and push me and when I was to fail she amplified things further. I would rather have been dead but there was nothing I could do, I sold my soul to that bitch! It was a fate worse than death for me!" Sky shouted as her tears ran down her face and splashed onto the floor.

"If I knew what it would be like I would have never joined her in all honestly. She turned my into something I could never image being, just a monster! And there's no going back now, my fate has been set in stone and there's nothing I can do to change things. I've slaughtered even, there's no coming back from that. And it was all for Medusa's selfish gain!" Sky exclaimed as her tears continued to flow. "It all steps from this damn curse, it ruined me! Now I lost again, if Medusa isn't stopped now then she'll just continue the way things are, she'll tear me apart once more..." Rycu went onto his knees opposite Sky as he could see how torn she was. Sky fell forward as Rycu wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. Her head rested against Rycu's shoulder as her tears flooded down endlessly. "I'll tell you this, I won't stop fighting till my last breath to take down Medusa. I must stop her, now just for Fiore, but for you," Rycu whispered into Sky's ear. Sky hesitated for a moment as she heard his words but saw it as a sign of hope, "Maybe I'm wrong, maybe...they are the ones who cam stop her," Sky thought as her tears continued to flood out.

"Medusa, I will make you pay. Even if I take my life with yours."


	115. The Real Fight Starts Now!

Natsu faced opposite of Medusa, exhausted with bruises all around his body while Medusa appeared to be in perfect condition. "Dammit she's too powerful for me to take out now, I wasted most of my power on Sunjlie so I can't even land a blow on her," Natsu thought as his fists wrapped around in electrical flames. "It won't be long till you fall Natsu, I've barely even used most of my magic, what makes you think you even stand a chance at all?" Medusa asked with a grin. "I don't care if I can't beat you like this, as long as I stall you for long enough then Rycu can get here and help me," Natsu explained as he stamped his foot forward.

"Ha, you're foolish to think Rycu could help you, he has already wasted all his energy on Sky alone. Besides, you two combined at your best couldn't even stand up to me in the slightest," Medusa explained as she put one of her hands behind her back and looked on in confusion, "I could beat you both with a single hand!" "Don't get cocky!" Natsu yelled as he blasted forward with his fist ready to attack. Natsu swiped forward with his right fist aimed at Medusa's head, she raised her free arm and blocked his attack effortlessly. Natsu quickly followed up and swiped his left leg upwards but Medusa easily evaded the blow. As she held Natsu's fist in the palm of her hand, Medusa smashed him into the floor and tossed him away at light speed. Medusa instantly pierced forward and punched into Natsu's gut which launched him even faster away.

Natsu was launched so fast her smashed through a mountain with barely losing any momentum as Medusa pushed him forward, "Enough joking around!" Medusa shouted as she pulled forward her other hand and smashed Natsu downwards into the floor which left a large crater in the floor and caused chunks of rock to blast all around, hundred of meters away. "I don't get it, how is she so powerful?" Natsu thought as he managed to push himself up fine. "With the rest of your friends defeated, how on earth could you still hold the slightest hope to push forward to victory?" Medusa asked as she landed back onto the floor, a few meters away from Natsu. "It doesn't matter if my friends are defeated, it's my strength alone that will take you down. But I know the pain and suffering you mercilessly cause for others, knowing there's monsters like you out there, I can't let them go on the way they already have. I can't let you do this anymore!" Natsu shouted as her launched forward.

Natsu suddenly stopped in his tracks as he felt a piercing blow against his stomach, there was a large gust of wind as he lost momentum and he looked down to see Medusa's fist. "Blind rage will never prevail over true strength," Medusa whispered into Natsu's ear as he was pushed backwards gently, tumbling down against the walls of the crater. "Not long now Natsu, I'll let you live long enough to see the end of it all," Medusa grinned as she glanced towards the demon, "there will be no stopping it." Natsu's body was twitching slightly as he glanced upwards, "I can't let it end like this..."

Rycu rushed along as he glanced towards the demon, "The must be a way to stop this," Rycu thought as he retraced his memory. "If I don't stop this soon enough then we'll all be doomed," Rycu thought as he halted his movements and had a sudden idea. "They must of used some sort of relic to originally start this ritual to unleash the demon. If there was a way to release it then there must be a way to seal it again which means the object they used must be back at their base where they originally started the ritual," Rycu figured as he stared at where the demon was, "It hasn't moved much from when it first appeared so that means the base has to be close to it."

Rycu took a deep breath as he stepped forward, "If I don't get to their fast enough and find that relic then the demon will simply crush me to death." Rycu blasted forward to get closer to the demon as fire launched out of his feet to propel himself forward more. Rycu noticed as the demon slowly turned around as it sensed Rycu's incoming energy, "Dammit this'll make it even harder," Rycu thought as he landed a few hundred meters away from the demon and instantly ran around searching for the base. Rycu sprinted through the black snow which was affected by the dark energy spreading off of the demon constantly. Rycu looked up and noticed as the demon raised its foot and smashed it downwards towards him. He quickly dodged to the right, barely evading the foot and was blasted away by the force. "If he hits me with an attack like that then I'm as good as dead," Rycu thought nervously as he he rushed away to where he was sensing another high energy around him other than the demon.

Rycu sped himself up and rushed quickly around the demon where he noticed a glowing neon blue light. "That has to be it," Rycu thought as he pushed towards it. As soon as he had made it, he instantly rushed inside before the demon had time to catch up. All around it was destroyed, rubble was scattered everywhere, so much that from the inside it'd be hard to recognise as an actual structure. "It's completely destroyed," Rycu thought as he looked around. There were shattered chains also scattered around the floor that were just singular pieces of tiny scrap now.

The roof was mostly caved in on itself, like if a giant had sat on it. When Rycu looked around there were strange markings on the wall which read, 'Sephro is coming' and 'The end is nigh'. "What does this mean? Who even is Sephro?" Rycu questioned to himself as he continued to search, "well clearly he is shown to be some sort of major person or at least a deadly one." He continued to search around, blasting away rubble till he reached one room. Rycu glanced over as he saw a thin puddle of water on the floor and a shattered stand with a mysterious egg-shaped object on top. "This must be it," Rycu thought as he stepped in, "this is where I linked my energy with the demon originally." He reached down and grabbed the object, when he looked at it closely, it had a solid gold coating and a weird orange gem inside of it that was a dim colour. "Question now is how the hell I'm supposed to use this to seal away the demon?" Rycu thought.

There was a sudden crash as all the walls began to crack, "He's already here," Rycu whispered to himself as he blasted upwards through the ceiling. As he was back into the air, he saw the demon towering above him as he clutched the object in his hand, "Alright, lets do this!" Rycu shouted as he blasted forwards towards the demon. Rycu looked in his hand as the object began to glow, "I think I see," he thought as he sped himself up.

Medusa could sense the energy as Rycu got closer to the demon, she turned around and could see the brightly glowing object in his hand, "Impossible, how did he?" she thought in disbelief. Natsu also noticed and a grin pulled across his face, "Ha, game over Medusa, Rycu is gonna destroy the demon!" "Not on my watch!" Medusa shouted as she blasted forward towards Rycu. "Now is my chance," Natsu thought as he pulled himself up and launched forward behind Medusa. Within an instant, Rycu felt as he was suddenly grabbed by the neck, he glanced to the side and saw Medusa, "What do you think you're doing?" she rhetorically asked as she threw him downwards, further away from the demon. "Don't forget about me!" Natsu shouted as he charged at her, "I didn't," Medusa muttered as she kicked him down towards Rycu.

Rycu looked up as Natsu crashed into him, sliding them both through the floor, "Oh hi buddy," Natsu panted, "good to see that you're not dead." "Same," Rycu sighed as he pulled himself up and stared up at Medusa, "I need to get close to the demon with this object so that I can seal it back inside and end this chaos," Rycu explained as he looked back down at Natsu. "Sorry I'm empty on magic, there's nothing I can do," Natsu sighed. Rycu grabbed onto Natsu's hand tightly as he gave him half of his energy, "You'd be no use to me dead would you. Besides, neither of us alone can defeat her at this rate." "This brings back memories," Natsu chuckled as he stood up straight again.

Medusa landed on the floor, creating a giant blast of wind, "Rycu, give me the Orochi now," she fiercely said. He looked at the object in his hand, "Orochi? Anyway, you're not getting this off of us anytime soon." "Then I'll have no choice but to kill you both," Medusa grinned as she took a step forward, "you barely won against Sky and I am far stronger than her, you stand no chance." "But he's not alone is he," Natsu interrupted as he wrapped his fists in flames. "The two of you combined are nothing but toddlers, I'll slaughter you mercilessly," Medusa chuckled. "You're just a monster, passing on your cruelty to everyone else like Sky," Rycu said.

"Ah so she told you did she? I always knew she was worthless and fragile. Once beaten she's nothing but a crying child," Medusa explained. "What you did was unforgivable, you heavily influenced her actions, you took her life in exchange for a chance of survival," Rycu said as he clenched his fist. Natsu didn't know what they were talking about but began to get an idea. "When I first found her I could sense her great power and I wanted to use that. However she was such a whiny child it was hard to get her to unleash her true strength so I had to go about it somehow," Medusa explained. Natsu could see her twisted look and figured it out, "So you beat her brought her despair for most of her life just for your own selfish gain?" "Exactly, I was helping her of all things. I thought I had done all I could for her to be powerful but she has fallen to the likes of you so it appears I'm not done with her now. I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to die now, it wouldn't be a first," Medusa smiled. Natsu was in shock from what she was saying, as was Rycu. "You...you're just..." Rycu began as he stepped forward. "A HEARTLESS MONSTER!" Rycu shouted as he launched forward in anger.

"When will you ever learn? Strength can't be found in anger alone!" Medusa shouted as she leaped forward also. They both pulled back their fists and punched one another across the face, Rycu's fist suddenly wrapped in a flame and launched Medusa backwards. Medusa was in shock as she felt her cheek and as it was stinging, she couldn't help but laugh, "That's the strongest blow I've felt in a long while but then again, that's not saying much." "Well there's a lot more than that to come," Rycu muttered as he launched forward. Medusa kicked upwards which blasted Rycu into the air, "Don't think you'll get lucky twice!" she shouted as she punched Rycu in the chest directly which blasted him backwards. Natsu caught Rycu as he was blasted back, "You ok?" Natsu asked. "Yeah I'm fine," Rycu said as he stood back up.

"Now this is what I've been waiting for, a real fight!"


	116. The True Battle Begins

Both Natsu and Rycu faced opposite Medusa, resisting the urge to immediately leap forward, "Try and distract her so I can use the Orochi on the demon," Rycu whispered. "On it," Natsu muttered as he leaped forward towards Medusa with Rycu slightly behind. Natsu swiped at Medusa with his flaming fist shouting, "Lets do this." She blocked his fist and focused on Rycu as she saw him blasting past towards the demon, "No you don't!" Medusa shouted as she held her other hand backwards which launched out a green beam towards Rycu. As the beam launched, Natsu attempted to swipe Medusa across her face with his foot but it was easily blocked and she punched him down towards the ground.

Rycu glanced back at the green beam as it got closer towards him, "Dammit," he thought as he redirected himself and flew out of the way of the beam. He watched the beam as it redirected itself back towards him. Rycu held his hand forward as it turned into an iron club and extended forward towards the beam. The iron club pierced straight through the beam, leaving a hole in the centre of it. The beam however kept travelling and reformed its shape, "What?" Rycu thought before he was hit by the blast and knocked back.

Medusa leaped up towards Rycu as he tumbled downwards. She grabbed him as she moved past, "I'll take this thank you!" she explained as she pulled it off of Rycu and kicked him away. "I've got to be more careful," Rycu thought as he regained control of himself. Natsu came blasting from behind and grabbed Rycu as he flew past, "Go get that thing back!" he shouted as he threw Rycu forward. Rycu blasted forward towards Medusa as she stopped herself, "How persistent," she sighed as held her left hand out and looked at the Orochi. "I need that!" Rycu shouted as he got closer. "Well you'll have to defeat me for it then," Medusa grinned as the Orochi in her hand vanished. "I'll happily do so," Rycu muttered as he pulled back his fist and launched it forward at Medusa. Medusa raised her right hand once again and blocked his fist effortlessly, "What happened to all you dazzling attacks? All you seem to be doing is throwing weak punches." Rycu grinned as he pushed backwards, "That doesn't matter."

"Why is Rycu attacking like this, normally he likes to outsmart his opponents while going toe-to-toe with them but now it's like he isn't even trying," Natsu thought as he dashed forward at the two of them. Rycu looked back and noticed him which caused him to blast out of the way. Natsu began spiralling around as his body was coated in fire, there was a sudden blast forwards at both Rycu and Medusa that sparked with electricity but it didn't make either of the two flinch. "That new form I managed to achieve against Medusa, I don't know really what it was but it made me magnificently more powerful. Maybe if I manage to reach that level once again, I can actually stand a chance," Rycu thoughts as he held his arms out. He pushed them both forward in a single stroke that created a huge blast of wind towards Medusa which also had no affect on her.

"She's practically immune to almost everything I throw at her," Rycu thought as he edged backwards slightly, "maybe I'm taking too long to attack, I have to be even faster." He dived forward with fire trailing off of his hands, "He's upping his speed, this is my chance to catch her off guard," Natsu thought. Rycu pulled back his fist ready to attack but as he got closer, quickly teleported behind her and struck. Medusa easily turned to the side slightly and caught his fist before it had even moved thirty centimetres, "How can she react so fast?" There was a slight green slight from the hand Medusa had caught Rycu's fist in. Rycu suddenly was blasted back from a blast directly from her hand. He quickly dived forward again, turning his fists to iron, "A different approach then?" Medusa thought.

Rycu's right fist turned into an iron club and the other into a mace. The club extended forward towards Medusa which she made a simple hand movement to redirect it. He turned the club back into a normal fist as he swiped with the mace which she redirected again. "In all honesty, I have no clue how on earth you managed to hit me so hard back there but now you're failing again. Anyway, I thought your friend was supposed to be helping you out here but it appears he's more of a screaming child," Medusa chuckled to herself as she noticed Natsu getting closer. Rycu had a sudden thought as he dived forwards, dodging away from Medusa and heading straight for Natsu. They both stopped their movements as they got closer to one another, "We're not even leaving a dent in her," Natsu sighed. "Don't worry I think I know how we'll beat her. All we have to do is work to together and perform a coordinated attack that can leave her open long enough so that we can deal enough damage to her to finish this quickly," Rycu explained as he glanced towards Medusa who stared down at them both. "Alright if it's all we got then we gotta try," Natsu agreed. "Plan ahead all you want and it'll be no different, the outcome will always be the same," Medusa explained as she moved closer.

There began a violent deathly sound as the ground began to shake viciously, "Now what," Rycu sighed in frustration as he noticed something in the distance begin to rise. Medusa looked behind herself as she noticed it too, "What a nuisance," she sighed as she figured out what it was. "A...a cannon?" Natsu said in confusion as it became more clear. "So the council want to take the demon out their self," Rycu pointed out as he noticed how large the canon was. "Wait what will happen to us?" Natsu asked. "You'll be killed if it isn't countered once the shot goes. I can take an attack as strong as that which you can't," Medusa explained. "Dammit that just adds onto everything else," Natsu sighed.

Makarov could feel the shaking as he sat on his stool, "What's all this now?" Laxus asked as he leaned up against the bar. "It's the magic council's secret weapon that they swore only to use in serious situations such as this," Makarov explained. "So the demon is getting too close for their comfort then? Must be a strong canon to take out the demon," Gildarts said as he took a sip of some milk. "Well the magic council have claimed if the blast were to make collision with the ground, it could wipe out this entire continent," Makarov continued. "But a blast that powerful would also kill everyone around it surely as well?" Mira pointed out. "Exactly, but that isn't a problem for them right now, as long as the demon is killed, nothing else matters," Makarov explained. "That's completely insane, so if they don't finish up quickly enough then they'll be erased along with the demon!" Laxus exclaimed. "Well then, we can only hope for the best outcome can't we?" Gildarts sighed as he stared out the window towards the giant canon, "Don't let me down Natsu."

"Ready?" Rycu asked as he braced himself. "Of course, just don't go holding back," Natsu grinned as he leaped forward with Rycu straight behind. "Attacking together then? Took you long enough," Medusa grinned as she dived forward. Rycu and Natsu both flung their fists forward together at Medusa, she held both her hands out, catching each of there fists but being pushed back slightly, "Yes, this is what I've been waiting for." She crushed both of their fists with each of their hands, "Now show me more." "Happily," Rycu said as his fist blasted with fire pushing Medusa back even more. Natsu leaped forward head first as his whole body wrapped in fire, "My turn!" Natsu shouted as he got closer to Medusa. She held her hand out as a magic circle appeared in front of her hand, twice the size of it, "Toxic beam," Medusa muttered as a dark green and black beam shot out her hand towards Natsu.

Natsu spiralled around with both his arms pointing forward, "Drill blast!" he shouted as he sped up and pierced directly into the beam. As he pushed forward, the rest of the attack spit into two direction, the sky and the ground. Natsu emerged out of the beam slightly above Medusa as he held both his hands forward. "How did he?" Medusa thought in shock as she quickly raised her guard. "Lightning fire dragon exploding lotus flame blast!" Natsu shouted as a large fire blast shot out of his hands that sparked with electricity. Medusa immediately was blasted downwards but not harmed must from the attack. Rycu quickly dived downwards with his eyes set on Medusa, "Gotcha now."

Medusa noticed Rycu as he blasted forward towards her and managed to pull herself up while in the air to face directly towards him. They both flew a flurry of blows towards each other, the loud crash as their fists continuously collided over and over again, "Come on get serious!" Rycu shouted as he swiped his flaming foot upwards, narrowly missing Medusa. "Fair enough," Medusa chuckled as she kicked upwards while turning to the side and hit Rycu directly across the face. "You asked for this!" Medusa shouted as she grabbed him by the neck and spun around, throwing him upwards into Natsu who was plummeting down. The two of them crashed into each other and managed to correct their self. "Alright, lets try that again," Natsu said. "Ready for round two?" Rycu asked. "You bet," Natsu said as he charged forward with Rycu directly next to him again.

"Speed," Rycu thought as his fist where coated in a layer of iron. "Time to use a little more magic," Medusa thought as her hands had a glowing green aura around them. Natsu noticed the aura as they got closer, "That's not good," he thought as he moved upwards more. Rycu also caught onto what was happening, gathering energy of all elements into a single attack, "Take this!" he shouted as a giant golden beam shot out his hands that covered tens of meters wide and tall. Medusa punched directly into the beam as it got close, redirecting it with ease. Natsu looped back round with his fists wrapped in fire as he pulled back his fist to attack like Rycu who got close as well. Medusa grabbed each of their fists which immediately stopped their movements as they continued to push. "Falling for the same tricks?" Rycu grinned as his fist began to glow. "I learn from my own mistakes," Medusa said as she tightened her grasp on his hand, crushing it more. "And so do we," Natsu said as he kicked downwards, knocking Medusa to the side slightly while Rycu kicked at Medusa's head which caused her to lose grip of their fists and be spiralled around slightly. They both smashed their fists against Medusa, causing her to fall quickly downwards.

"Now is are chance!" Rycu shouted as he held his hands close together and began to charge up some energy into his hands. Natsu leaned his head back as he took in a deep breath and prepared for a large blast of fire. There was a huge blast of wind as Rycu shot out his giant golden beam from his hands with Natsu's roar of fire spiralling around it. There was an even greater blast of wind as their joint attack smashed into the floor, creating a giant explosion with a great cloud of smoke. The cloud had a sudden giant whole down the centre of it as Medusa leaped through it, back towards them. "How did she take that so easily?" Natsu said in shock. "She didn't get away perfectly though," Rycu pointed out as he noticed a few cuts on her hand with blood dripping out of them.

"Now I destroy you both!" Medusa shouted as she blasted past the two of them, grabbing them both by the arms. Natsu and Rycu were both dragged through the air as Medusa held a tight grip on them. She made it high up into the air where she stopped herself and looked down, she threw the two of them both towards as she held both of her hands forward with a great magic circle appearing in front. "Toxic tornado blast!" She shouted as hundreds of dark green and black, slimy coated pillars shot out of the magic circle in numerous directions that it was impossible to keep up with all of them. Rycu stopped himself mid-air as he saw all the twisty pillars constantly changing direction wildly. He teleported all the way up to behind Medusa, "Not gonna let you get me with that," he muttered as he pulled back his fist. He was suddenly smashed to the side by a pillar which pushed him further away. When he looked he saw some sort of portal the pillar came out of, "They teleport?" Rycu thought as he was suddenly smashed downwards by another pillar which when he looked had teleported also. "Dammit," He muttered as he leaped back up with an iron fist. He pushed his fist directly through the front of the pillar though it endlessly extended in size.

Rycu kept pushing his fist through with fire blasting out of his feet to boost him more. He saw as he got closer to Medusa and leaped directly towards her as his body surrounded in fire. Medusa saw Rycu as he got closer and directed all of the pillars towards him at once. Natsu looked up as they all targeted to Rycu and moved further away, "Now is my chance," he thought as he blasted towards Medusa. From the corner of her eye she noticed him and directed her attention to him as Rycu was already being handled. Rycu looked on while swifty dodging his way through but kept being blocked off from making it through, "Even if I teleport they'll just teleport after me, and if I just punch my way through I'll just be destroying my own hands since clearly attacking them physically is the only effective option. Even before when I attacked with that iron coating on my hands, they felt like they could be torn apart," he thought.

Natsu clashed his fist against Medusa's chest as she let herself take the blow. It has no effect on her whatsoever as she reached forward and grabbed Natsu by the neck, "Why don't I just kill you now? I'll just let you choke out like the pathetic garbage you are." She held him high up above her with her other hand supporting all the pillars around Rycu to stop him intervening. Many of the pillars surrounded Rycu in a dome shape as he was struggling to keep up with everything going on. "She's trying to stop me from getting to her," Rycu thought as he looked around at the moving pillars. He wrapped his fist in fire and smashed it against the pillar. He immediately pulled it away and looked at his hand as his skin was burnt from the single punch. Natsu tried to grab Medusa as she increasingly tightened her grip to stop him from trying to free himself, "As soon as you're finished, I'll have Rycu all to myself and I can do whatever I like," Medusa explained as she noticed how Natsu was losing consciousness.

"If I take any longer he'll be dead or passed out soon enough that she can easily finish him off. I have to break out of this," Rycu thought as he gathered energy into his hands, "I think even with all this energy in this attack it may not be enough to break through. If I attack any more with my bare hands against it then they'll be destroyed completely." Medusa glanced over and could feel the rising energy from Rycu. She clenched her hand that wasn't holding Natsu into a fist as the dome around Rycu became slightly more smaller. He released a beam of energy from his hands, it blasted out and crashed against the wall of the dome. The wall of the dome quickly began to crack around Rycu as he continuously blasted out energy. "Impossible, how is he overpowering it?" Medusa thought as the dome was completely cracked all around.

There was a blast as the dome exploded, Medusa looked in shock as Rycu immediately dived over towards Medusa. She let go of Natsu as he got close and let him fall down to the ground, "Well I never expected he'd have the strength to overpower such an attack, maybe there is more to him that what he has already shown to me." "Take this!" Rycu shouted as they both collided fists, creating a great shock wave. All of the pillars around had already crumbled through Rycu's blast. Natsu faintly saw him as he crashed against the ground, "Dammit I need a minute to pull myself back together, hold on Rycu." Rycu quickly struck again, smashing his fist across Medusa's face, pushing her downward, "Maybe he's pulled himself together now, he's landing more hits and stronger ones. Maybe it's time to step it up a little more."

"I gotta keep it close quarters now, seemingly that's where I'm damaging her the most. She is practically resistant to all of my magic, or at least it's not strong enough to effect her much," Rycu thought as he dived forward. "He must have a death wish," Medusa thought as she stopped herself. As he got close, Rycu teleported behind Medusa and went from another blow. Medusa moved her left hand behind herself and caught Rycu's fist without her looking. She slightly turned to the side and stared Rycu in the eyes, "Don't think I can't see through you tricks," Medusa said as she turned herself fully around while striking Rycu in the gut. He could feel the full force of the blow as he coughed out some blood, "How did she put so much power into a simple attack?" Medusa still had a hold of Rycu's hand and punched him in the gut repeatedly with him unable to counter her.

Sky looked on from below as she emerged from the congregation of tree. She could see Natsu lying on the floor, trying to recover and she could see Rycu as he was being beaten repeatedly. "Medusa!" Sky yelled, trying to attract her attention away from Rycu. Medusa looked down at Sky, not pleased to see her at this time. She glanced at Rycu and threw him aside as she dropped down to a couple meters away from Sky, "And look who came now," Medusa sighed. Rycu glanced up and saw her as he tried to push himself back onto his feet, "What is she doing here?" "Seeing Rycu so beat up is unsettling considering the fact that not long ago he managed to overpower me," Sky thought as she stared towards Medusa.

"What, do you want to get some revenge against Rycu or something? Because he's all mine right now," Medusa explained. "No I'm here to stop you. After losing to Rycu, he showed me that they is a way out of this for me," Sky said as she looked at her bare hands. "How adorable, you think there's a way to stop me. We all know if you just run away like the crying child you are then I'll just hunt you down again," Medusa laughed. "No, running away solves nothing. I may not have the strength now to stop you now myself, but they do," Sky explained. Medusa laughed even more, "Them? Can't you see how weak they are compared to me? I've utterly destroyed them in battle!" "That's what you think, but they have power beyond the likes of you, I can sense it within them. When Rycu unleashed his full power against me, I could feel even more hidden in him that he couldn't unleash," Sky continued. "However much power they throw at me, it can NEVER be enough, nobody will surpass me!" Medusa exclaimed. "You wallow in your strength alone, and that will be your downfall!" Sky exclaimed as she lunged forward at Medusa with her bright glowing fist since it had recharged some energy.

Sky's fist clashed against Medusa's face, pushing it to the side and making her stumble back slightly. Sky's fist lost its colour again as she stumbled back. "You..." Medusa muttered as she turned her head back, "I've heard enough!" she shouted as she grabbed Sky by the neck and smashed her into the ground. Medusa kneeled over Sky, with each leg spread either side of her. She raised her fist and smashed it against Sky's body which caused her to let out a scream of pain. Natsu and Rycu both glanced at each other and nodded their heads. "You're nothing to me now! Your strength is miniscule, you're weak! If I had never taken you in then you would have died out there in the wild!" Medusa shouted as she repeatedly smashed Sky in the stomach. "If I knew this is what my life would turn into, I would have never joined you. Anyway, you'd force me to come anyway just to have it your way," Sky grinned. "Turning your back to me was a foolish move!" Medusa exclaimed once again as she began to hit Sky even harder. "If we don't stop her soon, she'll beat Sky till her fists are bloody," Rycu and panted to Natsu as he pulled himself up more. "We have to give it everything we've got, I haven't got enough left in me to try and turn into that form I used against Sunjlie," Natsu explained. "Same for the form I used against Sky," Rycu added.

"I'll beat some sense into you!" Medusa exclaimed again as she raised her fist high. Sky chuckled as she looked up, "I wouldn't be so sure." Medusa looked in confusion and hesitated the blow. "You can't always see everything coming," Sky chuckled. Medusa glanced behind as she was smashed in the face my two punches which blasted her back. She managed to look behind and briefly land on her feet to see Natsu standing their with his flaming fists. She was then immediately blasted up by a punch which she already knew was from Rycu as she noticed he had moved. Rycu and Natsu both leaped up at Medusa before she had time to recover. "What are they doing?" Medusa thought as she created a magic circle in her hand but was unable to finish by the time the two of them had gotten close enough. Rycu punched to one side while Natsu punched the other side of Medusa. She held each of their fist out but was suddenly overpowered as they both sparked with lightning. They both hit Medusa across the face as her hands were pushed out of the way.

"They're trying to take me out before I have a chance to power up. This whole time they've been savouring so much of their energy to wait for a chance. I can't go down like this," Medusa thought as she swiped bother of her arms to the side to hit the two of them. Rycu and Natsu both leaped mid-air away from the attack to behind Medusa and followed up by immediately going for another blow. "Not this time!" Medusa shouted as she held both her hands forward with a green aura around them. Rycu immediately grabbed both of Medusa's arms to stop her movement while Natsu punched her across the face once again, blasting her away. "Now is my chance," Rycu thought as he teleported above Medusa.

"Lets see what the mark leaves on you," Rycu muttered as he brought both his fists down on her, smashing her downwards. He then teleported beneath her and timed his punch perfectly to punch her straight into the gut and blaster her back up again. Medusa was in shock as he delivered the blow, "So much force, is this the true power he's been hiding?" Natsu and Rycu bother quickly flew round each side of Medusa, waiting for a good chance to strike again. "I won't let you get away with this!" Medusa shouted as she turned to her side and launched at Natsu as he was in range of her. Natsu let out a roar of fire that blasted towards Medusa but she dived straight through it, striking him across the face.

Rycu quickly dived in from behind, punching Medusa out of the way and further back into the air. He and Natsu both landed quickly on the floor as Medusa controlled herself, "You ok now?" Rycu asked as he pulled him up. "Yeah," Natsu sighed as he looked down to his fist and glanced over at Sky, "I need you to hold off Medusa for a bit longer, I've got a plan." "Whatever it is...be quick," Rycu muttered as he leaped forward. Natsu rushed over to Sky, reaching his hand forward, "I need you to lend me the rest of your magic energy." Sky looked up perplexed as she pulled herself up, "Why?" "We need all the energy we can get, to make a final assault to finish her off," Natsu explained quickly as he stuck his hand forward more. Sky looked on for a moment in hesitation, "This may well be the last chance they have," she thought as she grabbed onto Natsu's hand and shared her energy. "Just don't make me regret this," Sky sighed as she let go of Natsu. A massive grin came across his face as he bent his knees, "Of course," he said as he blasted towards Medusa.

Rycu punched forward with all his strength at Medusa in his single fist, "Not gonna work," Medusa muttered as she raised her arm and blocked the blow. Rycu immediately teleported behind her and punched directly against her spine which shocked her for a moment. He noticed Natsu at the corner of his eye and grabbed both of Medusa's arms, holding them tightly behind her back, "Natsu now!" Rycu shouted. A grin came across Natsu's face as he pulled back his fist, "Here we go." He pierced his fist directly against Medusa's stomach which instantly blasted her and Rycu back before smashing against a solid stone mountain. Natsu immediately dived in and grabbed Rycu, pulling him out and back onto the ground as Medusa hit the floor and looked up with a slight line of blood flowing down her head.

"We gotta go all out right now, one final assault!" Natsu shouted as he boosted forward with Rycu directly after. They launched a flurry of fists both at Medusa together at the same time, each blow satisfyingly push against her skin with so much force. Blow after blow Medusa hardly managed to block many, slowly becoming more battered with each hit. "Their attacks are actually having an affect on her," Sky thought to herself as she pulled herself back slightly away from the chaos. They both stopped their repeated blows as Medusa managed to grab both their hands at once and held onto them tightly. She launched a green blast out of each hand which pushed them both far back and burn the skin of their fists, "You can't keep this up forever!" "Nor can you," Rycu grinned as he teleported above Medusa and kicked her downwards with a flaming foot. He held both his hands forward as a bright and dark energy charged in each one, "Dark Horizon Omega Blast!"

A great blinding white and black blast launched out of each of his hands as they both linked together to form a single beam. There was a giant explosion as the blast hit, creating a force of air that even Rycu could feel strongly. Natsu dived through the smoke quickly as he realised it still wasn't enough, he grabbed Medusa by the neck and smashed her against the floor in a long trail as his flaming hand dug deep in. He gave one last push of force before throwing her in a swift motion back up towards Rycu. He immediately kicked her back down towards Natsu who in tern hit her back up again. Medusa was constantly blasted back and forth between them as they got closer towards each other.

There was a sudden great green blast of light from Medusa that pushed both Natsu and Rycu away, "Alright, you want me to show you my true strength then so be it!" A great sphere of a dark green and black colour appeared from her hands and quickly began to expand to multiple times its size. Natsu and Rycu both stood together as they realised there was a strong attack coming straight for them, "We got her angry now," Rycu muttered as his hands began to glow a golden colour as he held them together. Natsu held both his hands out as a great electrified flame appeared in both of them, "Time to end this!" "I'll crush you to pieces with this one attack, no matter how much energy you gather, it'll never be enough!" Medusa exclaimed as she launched the sphere forward. Rycu closed his eyes, "3..." the sphere was quickly moving closer, "2..." the sphere was picking up speed, "1..." the sphere was less than a few hundred meters away, "NOW!" Rycu shouted as he and Natsu both released their beams of energy at once as they combined together.

The two energies instantly clashed as they expanded in size. Rycu could instantly feel the force pushing him back slowly as he tried to push against it, "How can all this energy come from a single person?" Medusa managed to calm herself as a grin wiped across her face and she controlled the sphere with a single hand and pushed forward more. They could feel as their energy rapidly began to be pushed back, "This is no good, push more!" Natsu exclaimed as he gave out even more of his energy along with Rycu. "There's so much force being pushed down against me that it's be impossible to dodge this in the position I'm in now anyway," Rycu thought as he looked down to see his feet sinking into the ground.

"I hold the advantage now, there's no way they'll be able to redirect this with everything against them like this," Medusa thought confidently as she pushed even more. Rycu could feel as his bones couldn't keep up with the pressure as Natsu was struggling too but was holding up better by the energy he received from Sky, "This doesn't look too good for us right now." Jellal looked on with everyone else as they reached the battle, "Well do we help out now?" Macbeth asked. Jellal closed his eyes and shook his head, "There is no need, I know they have the strength to finish her. We may only intervene as a last resort." "Don't know about you but they seem like they're struggling over there," Macbeth said worriedly. "Just have faith," Jellal sighed as he turned away from the sight of the battle calmly.

Sky looked on and noticed the struggle they faced, "They don't have enough strength to re-direct the blast. If an attack like that even touched the floor it would easily destroy everything around us for hundreds of miles away or even more." Rycu pushed on his back foot as his body felt weak and he was even struggling to hold himself up. Natsu glanced to his side and realised how fragile Rycu's body was, "He won't last much longer unless I help him out but we're in a tough situation as is." He looked back forward, though he couldn't see Medusa he could tell how pleased she would be to finally crush them, "Not here, this can't be where I finally break," Natsu though as he began to feel more of the pressure. He reached his hand out and grabbed tightly onto Rycu's shoulder with his glowing hand, "This is my only choice." Rycu looked up in shock as he could feel so much energy moving through his body again, he glanced over towards Natsu, "What are you doing?

"I'm giving you all my energy of course," Natsu grinned as his body instead began to become more leaning over. "But why?" Rycu asked, completely confused. "We both know here that out of the two of us, you're the one who's most likely to be able to finish this. Splitting our energies isn't working to overpower her, you with full energy will be able to put up a better fight than I ever could," Natsu explained as fell to the floor, drained of energy. "Natsu!" Rycu claimed as he became unresponsive. He could feel all the energy pumping through his body as a grin wiped across his face, "Ha ha, well I guess I can thank you Natsu, I never felt this alive with so much energy running through me!" Medusa looked down unamused as she sensed a high rising amount of energy, "They couldn't have..." Rycu looked on forwards a high blast of air came from him, "MEDUSA!" he shouted as he stopped shooting out his beam of energy and leaped towards the sphere. "What on earth is he doing?" Medusa thought in shock as she stopped applying force to sphere.

Rycu stuck his bare hands into the sphere, "This is nothing!" he shouted as he pushed his two hands apart, splitting the sphere into two great chunks of energy. "Impossible!" Medusa shouted in shock as she gained a clear view of Rycu as he boosted towards her, striking her straight across the face and blasting her far away. Medusa crashed into an already destroyed area, as she looked around there were already a bunch of craters from another battle. Rycu leaped over, causing the ground to shake as he landed, "This is where mine and Sky's battle ended, and it's where our true battle will begin." Medusa looked around at all the chaos and noticed two long leather gloves lying on the floor and walked over to them, "Sky was never great at looking after these," she chuckled as she picked them up and put them on herself. Rycu looked in confusion as they fit on Medusa perfectly, skin tight. They even appeared to fit better than how they did on Sky. "These used to be my gloves if you're curious, I passed them onto Sky to help cover up her curse but with her being a backstabbing little bitch I don't see why not to take them back for right now, they are extremely comfortable you know," Medusa chuckled as she examined her leather coated hands as the gloves were skin tight and not loosely on.

"Well then Rycu, lets finally finish what we started."


	117. The End Of The Battle

Rycu and Medusa both faced opposite each other, knowing this would be the last fight, "Only one of us can win, and I'll make sure that'll be me," Medusa explained. "Both of us at our best right now, lets see if you can hold up a decent fight," Rycu added as his entire body became coated in fire that sparked with electricity. Medusa grinned as she was surrounded by a green aura and all the marks she had from before vanished, "You realised I was just toying with you before, I barely felt most of your attacks, I was just luring you into a false sense of security." "I knew you wouldn't go down so easily," Rycu sighed. There was a long silence for a while as the two stared directly at each other. The silence was suddenly broke as the two launched at each other.

They immediately clashed fists, causing a great shock wave, "First Jax, then Sky, I'll make sure you go down like everybody else," Rycu said. "I'm not like them both, I won't fall so easily!" Medusa exclaimed as she kicked Rycu across the face, forcing him downwards. He immediately came back, flying towards Medusa. She raised her guard as he got close but quickly turned around and blocked his fist as he teleported. Rycu constantly teleported around, trying to land a direct hit but every blow he threw was blocked like it was nothing, "Your attacks are too predictable," Medusa said as she blocked another hit. "Having fun with my clone?" Rycu asked as he was visibly further away and had made a clone as a distraction. Rycu shot out hundreds of blue energy blasts from his hands that all directed towards Medusa and covered all angles from above and below.

Medusa swiped her arm to the side, creating a great force of wind that pushed as the blasts away. Rycu immediately dived down from above Medusa, pulling back his electrified fist. She noticed in time and managed to catch his fist before it hit. The force of the attack pushed her downwards but she still managed to keep hold of his fist. As they both hit the ground, it created a large crater upon impact and cracked the ground beneath them, splitting it apart. Medusa struck Rycu in the gut, blasting him up into the air as he grasped his stomach in pain. She immediately launched up at Rycu again, flying around as she sped herself up. She then aimed for him and flew bast Rycu multiple times in an instant, landing a strong blow each time she passed. He felt each blow like he was being smashed by a mountain as he steadied himself, "My turn now," Rycu thought as he targeted back towards Medusa.

Medusa glanced around as she saw Rycu begin flying towards her, "Time for some magic." She turned herself around and held both her hands out while holding them together as a magic circle formed in front, "Toxic rope!" A long thin beam shot out of the magic circle that headed straight for Rycu, "What is that?" He thought as he slowed himself slightly. The thin beam slowly extended itself as it wrapped around both of Rycu's arms, tightly holding them both together while also burning them. Medusa slowly moved over towards Rycu slowly as he tried to break out of the rope, "I'll give you one more chance. Stop and join me and I'll spare your life or I'll kill you right here and now," Medusa explained. "I'm not foolish, if I joined you, all you would do is torture me to try and unleash more of my power for your own gain," Rycu explained as he could feel blood dripping down his arms. "You really think power is the only thing I crave? I don't want to kill you but if you don't give in already I'll have no choice," Medusa explained. "Never!" Rycu shouted as kicked upwards towards Medusa but was easily blocked.

"You leave me no choice," Medusa sighed as she crushed Rycu's foot as it was in her hand. He let out a cry of pain as the beam let go of his arms. He fell downwards slightly before stopping himself, "She's already dominating me." "Come on Rycu, I at least expected a challenge from you!" Medusa shouted as she held her hand forward and the thin beam launched towards him again. It wrapped around Rycu's neck and pulled tightly as he managed to grab onto it, "Not...this...time," Rycu muttered as he split apart the beam. He then dived towards Medusa who still had a wide grin on her face. Rycu was suddenly stopped as he felt something wrap around his ankle, he glanced back and saw the toxic beam again as it grasped onto his better leg. He let out another cry of pain as he felt the blood flowing down his over leg as it cut open, "It can reform itself?"

Medusa dived down and punched Rycu directly across the face again as she stopped the small beam that was around Rycu's ankle. He fell down for a while before he managed to redirect himself, blasting straight back up, "I've still got plenty of energy left in me, I can keep going just fine even if she now has a major advantage over me." Medusa didn't move in the slightest and tracked his movements as he darted around her, "How resilient." Rycu thought as he flew around, "She reads my attacks so easily, I've got to try and catch her out somehow." He finally boosted to Medusa once again, pulling back his fist. She raised her hand, prepared to block the attack but as he got close, was suddenly kicked upwards by a flaming foot which stunned her for a while from the shock. Rycu let out a cry of pain as he felt the recoil of the attack in his leg which was already damaged enough, "Here's my chance."

Rycu then followed up, striking Medusa in the gut and continuously sent out repeated blows against her as she didn't have enough time to strike back. She finally found an opportunity, grabbing his arm as it came down and striking him with all her force directly against his chest. Rycu looked on as he floated back a meter, he had barely left a scratch, "I'm continuously hitting her but each blow doesn't have enough power behind it," he thought as he turned his fists into iron which were both wrapped in fire that sparked with electricity. "He's going to sacrifice his speed in order to land stronger blows," Medusa thought as her fists were suddenly surrounded in a green looking flame. They both blasted towards each other at the same time, within the blink of an eye they both traded blows, each feeling a great force.

Rycu immediately struck downwards, blasting Medusa into the ground and diving down after her. She stood up from where she landed, reacting quickly enough and punching back up against Rycu. He quickly swiped his foot again in an attempt to land another blow, "Not this time," Medusa muttered as she ducked under the kick and kicked Rycu away again. He landed against the floor once again, setting his eyes on her and leaping forward once again from a single foot. Medusa created two large spheres in her hands which she held outwards, each flowing with deadly amounts of energy. She threw the two of the against the ground simultaneously as they both moved forward towards Rycu, completely disintegrating the ground it moved through. He spotted them both as he progressed forward, "If I let something like that hit me then I'll be destroyed completely in an instant." He leaped above the two of them and knew they would track him as they both looped around and began to moved back. Rycu held each of his hands out behind him, creating two golden spheres which launched out his hands and targeted directly to the ones Medusa launched with a grin on his face. The two clashed and instantly destroyed each other as a great explosion occurred behind Rycu.

Medusa held both her hands out as hundreds of small beams launched out all at once. Rycu narrowly dodged through the tight gaps as the beams launched past and continued to dodge as new ones were launched out also. "We're both burning through our magic energy it seems, all I have to do is outlast her," Rycu thought as he leaped high up into the air and held his hands together. A golden beam shout out of Rycu's hands, directly towards Medusa. She held her hand out, creating a small green sphere of energy that hit the beam as it got closer, completely disintegrating it. Medusa looked up after the attack and noticed Rycu was no longer there. "Over here," Rycu grinned as he was crouched behind Medusa with his hands held together again. She glanced around at the last second as she had enough time to see Rycu's smug face as before being blasted directly in the back by another golden beam, angled upwards to launch her into the air, "Hoe did he do that?" Medusa thought as the beam stopped. Rycu suddenly appeared above her holding his two hands together above his head before slamming them down against her body which blasted her against the floor, creating a large crater around her.

`Medusa laid there motionless for a short while as the cloud of dust around her spread. Rycu looked down, panting heavily as he exhausted much more of his energy, "That must have left a mark at least." Medusa slowly began to pull herself up as she stared up towards Rycu with blood dripping down her face, "You've left me with no choice, if you intend to be such a nuisance for me than I'll finish you right here and now. I've never had to use this against an opponent so you'll be my test dummy." Medusa was surrounded by a dark green aura as there was a huge rise in energy, green scales appeared all down her arms to her hands. A large green scaled tail burst out of her, soaked completely as the water dripped down. Rycu looked in shock as she had complete control over it, swiping it left and right. Medusa had a huge grin on her face as she stepped forward as her tail became more dry, "Ready?" She chuckled. Rycu was nervous as he already felt the dramatic increase in power, "How did her power jump so much? She seems so confident at this level of strength. Maybe if I just managed to achieve that form once more then I'll stand a chance, at this rate though I'll be torn to shreds without her even trying whatsoever."

Medusa immediately went in to strike Rycu with her fist, he raised his guard and upon impact felt a great force that began to launch him away. Within moments of him being blasted back, he felt as something wrapped around his leg which stopped him from flying back. He looked down and saw Medusa's tail, spiralled around his leg tightly, "She's using her tail to her advantage now." Rycu was smashed against the floor by the tail. He was repeatedly smashed all around as he struggled to break free. "Isn't this fun Rycu? You Being absolutely demolished by my power for my amusement? I'm certainly enjoying myself," Medusa asked as she flung Rycu away by her tail. He smashed against the cold, snowy floor, immediately pushing himself up again and wrapping his hands back in fire, "How am I supposed to win against this?"

Medusa held each of her hands forward with a glowing light above each. Hundreds of small green spikes shot out of each hand, launching in hundreds of different directions and targeting down on Rycu, "Every individual spike on its own is enough to shut down your whole body," Medusa explained. Rycu glanced up, seeing the spikes cover all in front of him, "I have to overpower my way through them, if I just teleport through them then Medusa will just take advantage of that and get me caught in them to finish me right there." He made himself faster as his fire blasted out his feet as the spikes were within a hundred meters. He covered his fist in an iron layer as he turned it into a club that extended forward. Many of the spikes ahead crashed against the club, instantly cracking all around it. Rycu noticed as more of the spikes were still heading for him but above the area of the club. As the other spikes curved round towards him, he turned his club back into his fist and jumped backwards as he crossed his arms to touch each shoulder before pulling them outwards and creating a fire tornado in front of him. The strength of the tornado pulled in the rest of the spikes heading towards Rycu, they were trapped in side and broke apart inside.

Rycu looked forward as Medusa stared directly back at him, "Impressive," Medusa muttered. She leaped forward and within milliseconds punched Rycu directly in the gut which blasted him far back, causing him to crash directly into a mountain and cracking it all the way through, causing it to collapse on top of Rycu. He immediately blasted the rubble away in an explosion of fire as he leaped up into the air. He stared forward at the demon as he saw it slowly moved backwards in confusion. Rycu turned around and saw the great magic canon as the large ball of energy was completely ready, "That will cover for hundreds of meters wide and could vaporise me completely. Medusa said she could counter it to save the demon," Rycu thought as he prepared himself to teleport away from the blast. Before he could however, he felt as he was grabbed tightly by his right arm. He glanced back and saw Medusa shaking her head slowly, "Where do you think you're going?" The cannon blast glowed brightly as it readied to blast. Rycu tried to swipe his other arm back at Medusa to get her off of him. Medusa quickly grabbed his other arm and gripped it tightly, "I'll allow you to stop this beam yourself, besides, it will kill all your friends also won't it? Or at least I'll make sure of that." Rycu stared at Medusa nervously as everything around them violently was shaking, "No matter what, Nomada will end up being stopped, that's what I'll make sure of," Rycu said back as Medusa let go of him.

Rycu held both his hands together and took a deep breath as he started to gather all his energy into one attack, "She's got me trapped in a corner now, there's practically no way I can win now. I have to stop this attack, otherwise everyone else other than possibly me, Medusa and Nomada will die." Natsu glanced up from the snowy floor, feeling the high energy, "Ry...cu," he muttered as he barely managed to pull himself up. Sky was standing up, staring up at Rycu, knowing what was going to happen next, "All our lives are only the line Rycu, don't let this get the best of you now." "I can practically feel his nerves, everyone has their faith in him now. But I just know that it will all come crumbling down now," Medusa thought to herself as the blast was on the brink of firing. Natsu stood back up again, feeling some strength in his body but not much, "Rycu! This is it, time to put all of what you have into one attack. I know you already feel weak and on the verge of giving up but you've got to push past your limit once again. I know it's hard but think about everything on the line, this is your time to shine once again and prove your strength!" Sky glanced at Natsu for a brief moment before staring back up at Rycu, "His sheer determination to defeat Medusa is impressive, all the heat being build up from his anger is amazing but it's not enough. Like Natsu said before, he needs to break past his limit once again to stand a chance," Sky thought.

A golden sphere appeared between Rycu's hands as he gathered all his energy into it and he stared nervously at the canon. There was a sudden blast as the cannon suddenly shot out a magnificent rainbow coloured beam, thousands of meters tall and wide. "Here I go," Rycu thought as he shot out a great golden beam towards the incoming beam. The two instantly crashed and Rycu immediately felt the great force that began to push him back. Tens of council soldiers were manning the cannon to make sure it was working fine, "What's wrong?" A soldier shouted "Something appears to be fighting back against the cannon blast," Another shouted. "Well add more power then!" Zamzu shouted as he emerged from the darkness with his second in command, Zaphkiel, by his side. "Y-y-yes s-s-ir," they all stuttered as they got back to work. "Who would be so foolish enough to step in the way of the cannon?" Zaphkiel asked. "Someone clearly with a death wish. Anyway, how does the town centre look currently?" Zamzu asked. "Both Zophia and Xeo are watching over the centre of town, so far there has been no activity since that incident with that half demon women," Zaphkiel explained. "I see. I would like you to head over to the forest with the demon and wrap up everything there once the demon is killed. Take Scarlet, April, Spaze and Blade with you to help out the mages there but I would also like you to bring that blue haired dragon slayer back to me, I have some business with him," Zamzu explained. "Do you want me to bring him as an arrest then?" Zaphkiel asked. "No, he has just been peaking my interests recently with what the Fairy Tail leader Makarov has been informing me," Zamzu explained again. "As you wish sir," Zaphkiel said as he walked away. Zamzu looked out in the distance at the demon, "How interesting."

Rycu could feel as the power from the canon was becoming greater as the gap between them began to close, "Dammit, not now, not like this. I can't afford to lose now, there's too much on the line. Everyone has their hope in me, I can't let this get the better of me now when I'm so close. It's not just my life now on the line, but everybody else's also." Medusa could see as Rycu was constantly being pushed back, "Time to accept your fate Rycu, this is the end at last." Everything around continued to violently shake, mountains collapsed on their own, trees were pulled from their home and buildings collapsed. The force could be felt all the way back to many nearby towns, forcing them into havoc and causing mass destruction. Rycu was pushed back more as he struggled to keep on pushing while he felt his body become weaker and weaker, "Can't keep this up." Natsu noticed as Rycu was struggling, the beam endlessly pushing him back and he knew he couldn't keep it up for much longer before he gave way, "Hey, Rycu! Don't you dare lose now, I know there's strength beyond this in you, I know your potential and its much greater than this, I know it! I've seen you at the reach of your power before, when you thought it was the end but remember, you can always break out of a tough spot!" "Nonsense," Medusa muttered.

Rycu stared down his golden beam not speaking a word, "No...he's right. No matter what, there's always a way out, there's always a way to win if I put my mind to it. I may be in a tight corner now, but I can still break free!" Rycu exclaimed as he released all his power, immediately pushing back the canon's attack. "Impossible! They managed to push the beam back!" A soldier exclaimed in shock. "How impressive. Release all the canon power now, surely it can't overwhelm that," Zamzu ordered. Rycu was immediately pushed back again as the canon powered through his beam, barely being slowed down by it at all, "Its gained even more power? This well more than enough to destroy the continent, never mind the demon!" Rycu exclaimed as he was still pushing with almost everything he had. The beam powered forward still, getting within a few hundred meters at most from Rycu and still going. Medusa prepared to intervene once Rycu was destroyed. The beam powered through still, getting within less than one hundred meters from Rycu, "I'm giving it everything I have yet it's not even slowing the beam at all now. I only have one choice now."

Rycu held both his hands out and let out a giant roar as he released all the magic energy in his body that was left. Finally the canon beam began to be pushed back, making the shaking even more violent than what it already was. "The canon doesn't have much energy left in it sire, it will run out soon!" A soldier exclaimed. Zamzu couldn't help but let a grin pull across his face, "How remarkable, that another being can stand up to this power is amazing." Medusa was in awe as Rycu was still pushing the beam back, "Impossible!" "This all I have!" Rycu yelled as the beam was rapidly being pushed back. "Sir it'll crash back into us!" Shouted a soldier. "Rise the defence shields!" Zamzu ordered. Rycu beam continued to push forward, completely overpowering the canon beam. There was a sudden explosion as Rycu stopped firing his blast, the beam crashed against the defence shield at last, stopping the canon as it ran out of energy. Medusa looked on in awe at Rycu who panted heavily in position, "He actually did it." Natsu looked up to the sky, "Hell yeah." Sky stared up at Rycu with a slight smile on her face, "Unpredictable as always." Rycu felt weak as his complete body was exhausted. He collapsed on the spot, plummeting downwards before crashing against the floor motionless. Medusa dropped down next to him, "I honestly had no expectations of you surviving such an attack. Now you've exhausted yourself however," she began as she kneeled on Rycu with each of her legs either side of him, "I now have a chance to give you a nice bloodless death," Medusa finished as she grabbed Rycu's neck with each of her hands.

Rycu felt as Medusa's force easily was crushing his neck but there was nothing he could do, "I'm completely empty, all my power was wasted deflecting that one attack, now there's nothing I can do. Rycu tried to raise his hands but immediately Medusa's tail wrapped around them both and pinned them above his head, "Shhhhh," she said as she heard Rycu's struggles, "it'll all be over soon. Rycu's vision began to go hazy as he was losing consciousness, "There's nothing I can do, I'll just be like a stupid rag doll as I die here," a slight tear formed in his eye, "I'm sorry Natsu for letting you down, this is a tough spot I just can't break out of." A massive grin came across Medusa's face as Rycu was becoming less resistant, "Goodnight Rycu."

There was a long silence as Rycu's breathing slowed more, "Are you just gonna give up now like this?" asked a voice. Rycu opened his eyes wide to see nothing, there was complete darkness around him with a bright blue light floating around him. "What?" Rycu said in confusion as he pulled himself up. "Are you just gonna fail when victory is in sight?" Beckoned the voice. Rycu looked around in complete confusion still, "Who are you?" "You'll find out in time, that's if you survive long enough to find out," The voice said again. "That's the point, I can't win now, I'm too weak at this point. I don't know how there's any way I can win against her though at this rate," Rycu said. "There is always a way to win, you just have to find that strength inside of yourself. There is never a limit your can't break through. Just think about yourself alone, your power that has got you this far and release it all," The voice explained. Rycu went silent and closed his eyes tight as he held his arms out, "Concentrate." He felt a dark energy rise in him once again.

Medusa still pressed her hands down on Rycu's neck as he still breathed slightly, "Just die already!" Rycu held a fist as he began to slowly tense up again. There was a bright blast of light as Medusa was blasted away from Rycu, "I-Impossible!" Sky let out a sigh as she felt the explosion of power, "Now it's your turn to feel his wrath Medusa." Rycu pushed himself up from the floor as he felt all his energy rush back through his body. The same black scale marks appeared all around his arms and the side of his body as constant heavy wind pushed off of him, "Prepare to feel the full power of Dark Dragon Force!" "You hardly attained that form against your battle with Sky and hardly defeated her with it, how could you expect the same form to vanquish me!" Medusa exclaimed. Rycu stared forward at Medusa with his fierce looking eyes as he took each step, shattering the ground beneath his feet, "Sure, this form was hardly enough for Sky but I've had time. Time to understand the form, and if I have to unleash its true capabilities against you than so be it. I'm stronger than what I was then." "You're foolish to expect it to be enough, all your power thus far was dwarfed by my own and you expect a single power up to make the gap so easily?" Medusa questioned. "I do, I know the potential in me that will be enough to defeat you. Maybe to you I'm just a punching back but I'm much more than that. In myself lies my own true strength, limitless potential that will grow and grow forever. Even if it may be months, years or decades, I will surpass you!" Rycu shouted as he let out a great roar. "No! You will never in your wildest dreams surpass my strength, I'm stronger than you and the rest of your damn friends and family! I'm the absolute strongest and I could kill this entire planet of weakling if I wanted to. Nobody can ever be stronger than me!" Medusa yelled as she leaped forward at Sky with her fist at the ready.

Rycu raised his arms and blocked the blow, still staring Medusa in the eyes, "That's the best thing. There will always be someone stronger than you. I know of people and demons stronger than even us two combined. I know of Gods that could destroy our universe entirely by the click of their fingers, I know that no matter what, I will push past my limit to grow in strength and that one day, I will surpass even them no matter what the rules are!" Rycu pushed his arms apart, forcing Medusa to be open and quickly following through by blasting her across the floor before she pulled herself up again. "I know that I will avenge those I've lost and that I'll pay you back one hundred times more for all the pain and suffering you've caused through your life," Rycu shouted as he leaped forward again with a slight tear brimming in his eye as he thought about Sky. "The torture and torment, the tears shed and the pain, I'll pay you back one hundred times more for it all!" Rycu continued as he stuck Medusa downwards into the floor. Medusa looked up, stunned by what he was saying before she was kicked upwards into the air, "Wha- what is this power he's showing?" Rycu teleported up towards where Medusa was being blasted up to and grabbed her by the neck as she was within reach, "A life like yours isn't worth trying to save, I'll never be able to break into the mindset of such a delusional person." He wrapped his fist in black fire as he struck her downwards into a congregation trees.

Medusa launched back up, directly at Rycu who prepared to strike with his fist. As he launched his fist forward, Medusa's tail wrapped around his arm and twisting his around where she grabbed his other arm and twisted it, "I don't care if I'm not worth saving to you, I don't need help from scum like you of all people. My power will forever grow, I will be the strongest no matter how many lives I must take in the progress." "You don't need to take lives in your conquest for absolute power!" Rycu exclaimed as he broke free of Medusa's grasp and grabbing her tail and spinning it around before letting go and launching her away. "Enough blabbering on, I'll unleash more of my power on you to shut you up now!" Medusa exclaimed as she gained control of herself again. A green aura appeared around her once again as her eyes changed to a blood red colour. "Looks like I angered her," Rycu muttered to himself as he blasted towards her cautiously. Medusa blasted towards him and punched him directly in the gut and kept pushing forward, launching him through a whole cliff to the other side, "Like I said, no matter how much you power up, it will never be enough and I'm not even going one hundred percent yet."

"Don't get so hasty," Rycu muttered as he kicked her in the face, causing her to lose her grip on him. He quickly followed up, punching Medusa in the gut also, launching her back through the cliff. Medusa quickly leaped back towards Rycu with her fist at the ready once again. Rycu dived towards her also with his fist at the ready as well. The two suddenly clashed, each fist pushing against the other, creating a huge vibration that made the ground beneath them shake and crumble. Rycu quickly tried to land an extra blow, rotating around and trying to kick Medusa across the face. Her tail quickly wrapped around his leg and held it still. Rycu quickly spun the rest of his body around and tried to kick her with his other foot but it was again blocked by Medusa gripping it with her hand. Rycu leaned back his head and took a deep breath before pointing his head back towards Medusa and letting out a great roar of fire that blasted her off of him. They both stared at each other directly into their eyes as they leaped up back in the air.

Zamzu looked on from the balcony, feeling the vibration from each punch the other gave, "Quite impressive, the two of them are still managing to go all out against one another. Though I feel their fight will end soon enough, they can't go on like this forever." He turned away from the balcony, "What are we going to do about Nomada sir?" asked a guard. "We need to worry of it, even if it is not killed from those two fighting, Zaphkiel will destroy it in the blink of an eye once he arrives. Issues like this just add on to the pile of issues we have like Acnologia who I shall deal with myself once he comes out of hiding," Zamzu explained. "Yes sir," The guard responded.

"I'm making hardly any progress with him now," Medusa thought, "I guess now going all out is my only option to finish him off fast enough." Rycu dived forward, completely covered in fire. Medusa held both her hands diagonally out to her side as there was a great blast of energy that knocked Rycu away, "She already powering up again? That must mean she's running low on energy and she's try to finish me off now. Guess that means I'll have to unleash all my energy at once now also to stand up to that power." Rycu clenched both his fists tightly as he gathered the last of the magic energy in his body. There was another blast of energy back from Rycu, the dark aura already around him became even dark as everything around him began to shake once more. The same was for Medusa, "If you think you can match me at full power than so be it, but I'll crush you!" "It doesn't matter what you think, no matter how many time I must break through my limit, I will defeat you even if it kills me. No matter how many hits I take, the blood that flows out my body, I will never give up!" Rycu shouted as his scales spread further around him, covering a large portion of his back. "And no matter what, I will never let you surpass my strength!" Medusa shouted a her tail grew spikes all around it and her scales spread also.

"One last push, it's now or never," Rycu thought to himself as he floated forwards slightly, prepared to give it his absolute all. Medusa floated forward slightly also, "Ready?" Rycu nodded his head slightly as there was a long silence as they both anticipated the other's first move. They both jolted forward, bashing their head against one another before leaping back for a brief moment. They dashed forward a second time but more hesitantly than before, Rycu flew around Medusa as she got close and dived in from behind. Medusa raised her guard as she realised what he was doing. However she felt no blow and was suddenly punched from behind as Rycu teleported to a different angle and attacked. He kept pushing after delivering the initial blow, pushing her downwards and launching her deep into the ground. As he continued, Medusa reached forward and managed to grab Rycu by the arm and pushed it off of her. Her tail wrapped around Rycu's arm and gained enough force to launch Rycu through the ground. Rycu wrapped his body in fire and quickly boosted back up to the surface and high into the air. He looked at his arm and noticed all the spikes on Medusa's tail that had pierced into his arm as the blood flowed out.

Rycu looked down at the ground for a while not seeing any sign of Medusa, "Where has she disappeared to?" All of a sudden Rycu felt as Medusa's arm tightly wrapped around his neck, "Surprise," she whispered into his ear as she grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind his back and pushed it forward. Rycu tried to kick her off of him but felt Medusa's tail wrap around his legs as the spikes pierced in. "This will hurt," Medusa chuckled as she pushed the arm further forward and heard a loud crack as she let go. Rycu let out a loud scream of pain as he was released and fell forward before correcting himself. He stared down at his left arm as he couldn't more it much and it flopped around, "She broke my arm," Rycu though in shock as he held his other arm to it to support it. Medusa stared down at him as she laughed hysterically, "Now how can you expect to beat me with only one working arm?"

"One is enough," Rycu muttered as he blasted up towards her again. Medusa held a single hand out as a small green magic circle appeared and out of it shot out small green balls the size of a single raindrop each. Rycu swiped his right arm in front of himself as a wave of fire shot out of it and quickly expanded in size by multiple times. Rycu pushed forward with it in front of him, destroying all the miniscule spheres in its path. Medusa still had her hand pointing out stopped launching the small spheres but instead the magic circle multiplied in size and launched out three large beams in multiple directions but with all of them locked onto Rycu. Rycu stopped his movements as his fire disappeared in front of him, "Each one of them could kill me in an instant," he figured as he blasted off to the side where an individual beam was. He flew above it and pulled his arm back before pushing it forward and creating a large wave of wind that redirected the beam to crash into another one. As the two clashed together it created a large explosion, erasing each other. Medusa clenched her fist as the last remaining beam sped up towards Rycu. He charged towards it with his right arm stretched out which was glowing a slight golden colour. Rycu grabbed onto the beam as it was in reach and managed to drag it along with him. "Impossible! He's using all his elements to nullify the toxic layer!" Medusa thought in anger as she charged towards him. "Have a taste of your own medicine! Of course with some of my own!" Rycu shouted as he launched the beam towards Medusa. It quickly expanded greatly in size and moved faster as soon as it left Rycu's grasp.

Medusa looked in shock as the beam hit her directly and blaster straight into the ground again. Rycu glanced over at Nomada as he still wandered forward, "This is my only chance." He quickly flew over in front of the demon as it halted in wonder of Rycu's presence. "I'm not sure weather you actually have a conscience up there but listen to me now. Stop your repeated attack against us and I won't be forced to kill you which I certainly don't want to do. Break free of whatever control Medusa has over you and let me seal you back into the Orochi once I've finished with her," Rycu explained. Nomada was frozen still in front of Rycu, no action whatsoever. There was a sudden loud crash as he heard a loud roar of anger, "RRRRYYYYYYCCCCCCUUUUUU!" Medusa shouted as she quickly blasted towards him and struck him out of the way of Nomada. Rycu glanced down as he felt the stinging pain from her fist and boosted further out of her way. "Whatever you try, you'll never be able to stop this demon. Even if you ever beat me, you'll be too exhausted to finish him," Medusa explained. "That's true, but there's more than me isn't there? Hundreds of mages that would be ready to finish you off as well as Nomada. I may be the strongest you've faced in a long while but trust me, there are many far beyond me...and you're not one of them!" Rycu exclaimed. Medusa quickly charge forward and grabbed him by his neck, "You never know when to keep your mouth shut do you!" Nomada slowly began to take steps forward. A huge grin came across Rycu's face as he didn't try to resist. Medusa loosely let go in confusion, "What?" "Everything doesn't always go the way you want them to," Rycu said as he kicked Medusa way and freed himself. Medusa looked behind as the demon was directly behind her with its huge arm raised high. She was smashed downwards by it's great hand, hundreds of meters down through the ground, "This makes no sense, why did it attack me?"

"Perfect," Rycu muttered as there was a huge crash as Medusa destroyed everything while she blasted back up to the surface in a fit of pure rage. She immediately charged back at Rycu with her fist at the ready. She swung it forward but Rycu quickly grabbed her fist without even shaking an inch, "Ironic isn't it, you were the one blabbering on about how true strength isn't found in anger but here we are with the tables turned." "Shut your damn mouth you worthless brat!" Medusa shouted as she created a small magic circle in her hand at point blank range which shot out a beam, Rycu moved back as he could feel the severe pain in his hand. Medusa quickly punched Rycu in the gut, shocking him and causing him to cough up blood before following up by unleashing tens of rapid punches at Rycu relentlessly before smashing him downwards into the ground. "One opportunity, that's all I need to end this," Rycu thought as he pulled himself up and leaped back into the air with his fist coated into a layer of iron wrapped in fire. He held his hand out on its own as it turned into an iron club, it launched forward at once, the club curving around with the fire. Medusa held one of her hands out forward, blocking the iron club even with the added fire. Rycu leaped forward as he took in some of the clubs length the closer her got. When he was close enough, he kicked Medusa directly across the face with all his force, knocking her slightly to the side. His eyes both stayed locking onto her as he teleported slightly below her and blasted her up into the air. He then teleported up to where she had been knocked up to with his working arm's fist wrapped in fire. He dived past her multiple times, striking her fiercely with each blow in a long chain. Every blow after the last pushing further and damaging her more. Rycu let out a giant roar of anger as he struck her downwards once more with all his force. Medusa's body bounced off of the floor and back into the air as she had no control whatsoever over herself, "No, this can't be!"

Rycu quickly teleported a small distance away as he fell onto one knee but holding his hands together as he charged up a great beam. Medusa and the demon were both in line with one another as Rycu was fully ready, "I said all I needed was one chance, so I'm putting everything I have into this." "NO!" Medusa shouted as she managed to correct herself but not fast enough as Rycu let out a great was as he released a great beam. It was hundreds of meters tall and wide and it was clear there was no dodging it. Medusa flung her hands forward in a desperate attempt to block the blast but it power through. The beam shot through her, stinging and burning her whole body. As it flew by even more, it clashed against Nomada with him holding it back for a brief second. Rycu let out one final great roar, "IT'S OVER!" The beam powered through, blasting straight through Nomada's chest. Medusa was in shock as the blast launched her high into the air before dropping her as she crashed motionless against the ground with the Orochi slowly fading into view as it appeared in her hand. Nomada stumbled forward as an endless waterfall of black blood blasted out of its body.

Rycu panted heavily as his beam faded. Zamzu stared out the balcony once more with a grin on his face, "Those guild mages will always continue to amaze me. Makarov also had a grin pulled across his as he stood up, realising what had happened. "Master?" Mira asked confused as he suddenly seemed so joyful. "Once again my children have risen against all odds," Makarov said joyful. Laxus couldn't help but pull a slight smile, "I was wrong to have doubts in the first place." Rycu looked on ahead of himself he fell onto his hands and knees. He slowly began to crawl forward towards Medusa as she slowly moved. All his scales disappeared from around him as was the same for Medusa along with her tail slowly getting smaller till it was no longer visible. Rycu looked on in shock at Nomada slowly began to turn into ash which floated away, "He's vanishing? Then that would mean there is no use for the Orochi," Rycu thought as he stared at Medusa who managed to slightly lean up from the floor. "How...how did you beat me?" Medusa asked as she slowly dragged herself towards Rycu who was moving towards her. "I told you I would never stop, and I said I would avenge everyone that you hurt in your conquest for power. Medusa raised her gloved hand to Rycu's check and slowly stroked it, "You're power...is far beyond my comprehension. Why Rycu, why couldn't you just join me?" Medusa said as a slight tear formed in her eye. Rycu edged forward with his fist clenched as he was surrounded in a slight dark aura, "Rycu?" Medusa whispered as she edged even closer.

Rycu's arm suddenly jolted forward as it pierced through Medusa's stomach completely, coming out the other side. Medusa was in shock and tried to let out a scream of pain but Rycu pushed her against him to muffle her scream, "Shhhhhh, it's time to take a rest Medusa." Her body instantly became weakened as she barely pushed her head off to say something, "Ry...cu...why." Rycu lit his whole arm on fire to burn Medusa's insides as he pushed her against him again to muffle the rest of her screams of pain. Tears flooded out her eyes as she quickly lost strength, dropping the Orochi, "You've given enough pain and suffering to others. I'm just paying you back," Rycu explained as he felt Medusa's blood and tears flow down her. Rycu pulled his arm out of Medusa and stroked her check with his hand coated in her own blood, "I'm sorry it had to end this way but that's just how things are right?" Medusa couldn't even say anything any more as he eyes slowly began to close while her tears stopped shedding. She collapsed onto Rycu as she lost all life in her. Rycu let go of her and let her fall back into the snow...dead. He reached for the Orochi as it was being covered in layers of snow, as he grasped it, it disappeared straight in his hand. He glanced forward at Medusa's body in front of him and covered it in multiple layers of snow quickly as the falling snow piled on top. There was a long silence for a while as Rycu sat there catching his breath as the small dark aura completely vanished and he heard some snowy footsteps behind him.

"Need some help?"


	118. The Aftermath

Rycu pulled himself up as he turned his head sightly around to see Jellal standing a couple meters away. "You don't seem like you're in the best shape after this all," Jellal said as he walked forward. "Clearly," Rycu sighed as he tightly gripped his left arm and slowly moved forward, "I'm just happy it's finally over." He pulled his right arm over Jellal to help support him as his vision became more hazy. They both slowly began to move forward as Rycu walked with one foot and dragged the other behind. "We already have Natsu, there was no sign of Sky however so should we try and track her down? We already have captured the remaining mages," Jellal explained. "No, just leave Sky, she is no threat whatsoever, at least any more," Rycu explained. "But why? She killed one of our own even, why just let her get away?" Jellal asked confused. "Something you would never understand," Rycu muttered as he continued forward. Jellal gave a confused look as he slowed himself down for Rycu but kept his mouth shut, "Well if you think there is no need then I'll take your word for it. Don't go blaming me if it comes back around to bite you though." They both gave a slight chuckle as they pressed onwards more, "I'll be counting on it."

Back at the guild hall, Lucy finally landed. She looked in delight as she saw the stone around everyone began to crumble away and turn back to their normal skin. Everyone looked around in shock as the stone disappeared. "What...happened?" Gray asked as he examined himself. "They actually did it!" Lucy exclaimed in joy as a slight tear came to her eye. "Still fabulous!" Ichiya exclaimed in joy as he leaped forward with tears flooding out his eyes, "Imagine what could have happened to my beauty!" Erza finally managed to grasp what had happened as she stepped forward, "Where are Rycu and Natsu?" "They were the only two left standing for us, by the looks of it they must have been victorious!" Lucy exclaimed joyfully as she rushed up to Erza with her arms wide open before wrapping them around her. Erza let out a sigh of relief as she wrapped her arms around Lucy, "Those two always get me on edge." Wendy walked up to the door as she stared out as the snow slowly changed from black to white once again, "There's no sign of Nomada any more either, whatever they did, it's no longer here!" Wendy said joyfully. "Well, I say it's time we got a good break for a while," Leon sighed as he leaned up against the wall. Gray stretched out his arms and yawned as he leaned against the wall also, "I agree with Leon here. Lets just rest here for the night and wait till we're updated on what happens next." Erza nodded her head as she moved to the door, "Wendy, you get started on healing up everyone while we wait for the others to turn up.

A long while past, everyone resting up except Erza and Lucy who both stared out the door impatiently for Rycu and Natsu to return. Eventually, they saw some figures in the distance as they came over a nearby hill. Erza was full of a rush of excitement as she darted forward with Lucy close behind. Everyone else realised and stared out the doors with Gray coming outside also with Wendy directly behind. "Rycu!" Erza exclaimed as she got closer. Jellal let go of Rycu and let him move forward on his own. "Erza?" Rycu thought as he fell onto his knees and slowly fell forward. Erza dived onto her knees and slid across the floor in time to catch Rycu. She had her left arm wrapped around him and her right hand directly behind his head, pushing it against her. Lucy dived straight into Natsu, wrapping both her arms around him and squeezing him tight. "Don't...squeeze...me," Natsu gasped. "Woops, sorry," Lucy said as she loosened her grip slightly. Erza immediately noticed as one of Rycu's arms was badly damaged, "Rough fight then?" "Yeah, at least I'm still here in one piece though. Better than losing me altogether," Rycu smiled as he held his other arm round Erza. She looked at how brutally damaged he was with dry blood from the many places he was injured from, "Lets get you inside and healed up," she said as she stood up, pulling Rycu's arm around herself and beginning to drag him inside while glancing back at Jellal and Macbeth. "Same goes for you," Lucy said as she pulled Natsu arm around her and helped move him inside.

As they got inside, Erza and Lucy laid both their bodies on the floor where they laid out some blankets. Gray quickly slammed the doors shut behind them to try and keep it as warm as possible. Wendy examined them both quickly, "I'll do the best I can now but I need everyone else to leave until I'm done here." "How long do you think it'll take?" Leon asked. "I don't know and accurate time but around half an hour with the shape they're both in, Rycu especially. "Well you heard her, everyone move," Erza ordered as everyone moved to another room. Wendy quickly began to work.

A while later, she had finish. Rycu leaned up and making a large yawn, "Thanks Wendy," he sighed as he stood up. Natsu also stood up, most tired, "Yeah, thanks Wends." "Sorry I couldn't do anything for your arm Rycu. I ran out of bandages so I'll only be able to deal with it back at the guild," Wendy said nervously. "It's fine, it's not gonna kill me so it can wait," Rycu sighed as he looked at his legs which he could now work better than how they were before. "Guess it's time to go to bed, we can leave tomorrow morning then. And once we get back relax and stuff ourselves with a large buffet!" Natsu exclaimed. "Sure Natsu," Rycu sighed as they moved in with everyone else where most people were already falling asleep. Wendy moved and laid in a corner while Natsu leaped onto a free sofa nobody was using. Erza moved up to Rycu and grabbed him by the arm, "Do you...mind if I sleep with you tonight?" "Why?" Rycu asked. "I just felt a little uneasy without you for so long with no idea what happened to you so I want to stick with you for a while," Erza explained. "Oh fine then," Rycu sighed as he laid on the floor as Erza laid down next to him and wrapped her arms around him, "Talk in the morning," she whispered as she closed her eyes to fall asleep like everyone else.

A long while into the night, Lucy launched up. She looked around and saw everyone still laying asleep on the floor and sofas. She heard faint footsteps from in the hall centre, "Who is that?" she thought as she pulled herself up and quietly exited and manoeuvred through the hallways till she made it back to the hall centre. Lucy glanced to the doors as they were open wide, "Maybe the wind just forced it open," she thought as she moved over the door, noticing sand all over the floor along with snow. She suddenly felt as a hand grabbed her around her mouth and held her up in the air, "Dusk?" Lucy thought as she recognised him. "Why hello there, looks like I have myself a helpless little girl," Dusk chuckled as he held another hand to a neck, "Sorry but I can't just let you go now. I'll give you a nice quiet death."

Dusk was suddenly knocked across the smooth marble floor as he felt an elbow bash into his stomach. He looked back up to see Rycu standing in front of him with Erza just behind him to the side, "You..." Dusk said as he immediately remembered Erza and lunged at her. Rycu intervened again, striking him across the face to knock him out the way, "Lucy, you and Erza go back to sleep, I'll finish this up quickly." Lucy nodded her head as she grabbed onto Erza's wrist and walk away. "No you don't," Dusk muttered as he held his hand forward and a sand cylinder surrounded the two of them to stop them. Rycu clenched his fist and stomped on Dusk's chest, "Release them immediately," he ordered. "Like in hell I'd listen to any of you, you'd have to kill me to stop it," Dusk explained. "That's fine, I'll break it down myself and pummel you for a bit," Rycu explained as he stepped forward with a flaming fist. "I'd like to see you try," Dusk grinned. Rycu tried to take a step forward but couldn't move, when he looked down at his feet he realised they were both covered in sand and held together. Both his arms were suddenly tugged by the sand to behind his back as it wrapped them together also, "You're too easy to fool," Dusk sighed as he grabbed Rycu by the neck and squeezed tight, "I think I'll firstly choke you to death then I'll think of a fun, inventive way to kill both your friends over there." "I can't break out while he's choking me like this, all I need to a single second," Rycu thought. "All I want to do is kill Erza over there and maybe I'll saver the blonde girl for after," Dusk explained. "I...won't...let...you kill...my sister," Rycu struggled to push the words out. "Oh she's your sister? Then it'll be even better for her to watch you die before her very eyes," Dusk laughed. Erza could see through the sand barrier slightly and requipped to her fire sword and jammed it into the cylinder and sliced up and down to split it open.

Just as Rycu was going to lose consciousness, Dusk noticed Erza and hesitated. Before he could have reacted, he was suddenly whacked across the face by a flaming fist that launched him across the marble floor again. "Thanks Natsu," Rycu sighed as he broke free from the sand. "Now you two can leave, we got this under control," Natsu explained as Erza and Lucy let. Rycu walked up to Dusk and picked him up by the neck before throwing him back out. Both him and Natsu walked back up to the door where they saw Dusk pick himself back up, "Now it would be a smart decision to leave us. We defeated you all so just give it up before you get caught. Some magic council soldiers will be here in a few hours so I'm sure they'll be delighted to throw you in a cell," Rycu explained as he stepped outside. "Only because we lost doesn't mean I can't stand on my own, I will be back for you one day, mark my words," Dusk threatened. "We'll be counting on it, in the future you may become stronger but so will we," Natsu explained as he walked closer.

Dusk edged backwards, worried, "This won't be the last you see of me," he said before he rushed away. The two of them let out a sigh of relief as they stepped back inside, "That god that's over," Rycu said. "Welp time to go back to sleep!" Natsu exclaimed in joy as he began to walk back but Rycu didn't. "Well goodnight then," Rycu said as he stared out the doors. "Aren't you gonna come back?" Natsu asked. "No, I'm too awake to fall asleep back I have some things I need to think about," Rycu explained as he looked at his right arm. "Suit yourself, just don't be grumpy in the morning," Natsu chuckled as he left.

Rycu stared down at his fist and remembered Medusa's blood that he washed over it from when he killed her. "Why...why did I do that!?" Rycu shouted in frustration as he had moved outside while he crashed his fist against a tree. "I never wanted to kill Medusa, but that dark energy Lucifer spread through my body is starting to take over, make me do actions I wouldn't never do. I'm just becoming like him, that's what he wants!" A small tear began to float down his face, "There was something familiar about Medusa, like I had seen her before or something but I can't put my finger on it. Something always felt weird about her, like what she was showing me was a different persona, maybe there was more to her than what met the eye. But I can't find out now because she's gone!" Rycu shouted as he punched the tree again but more aggressively. "Maybe I can asked Eileen but I doubt she'd know anything about her. All this is my fault though isn't it? There's no making amends now. Maybe if father was around still he'd know something but he'd never have lasted this long."

"Rycu!" Called Erza as she stood from the door. Rycu walked back over and let out a large sigh, "Are you alright?" Erza asked. "Sure I'm fine, I'm just thinking. Lets just head back to sleep," Rycu said as he walked away. Erza looked on from behind him uncertainly and thought to herself as she slowly followed on, "Something isn't right about him. What are you hiding from me Rycu?"

By the time morning struck, everyone was already wide away with Rycu being up the earliest with Natsu. The two of them looked over as everyone woke up one by one, "What do you want to do for a while then?" Rycu asked as he paced around bored as he looked to the open door where he slowly saw the sun rise. "We can always do some training," Natsu explained. Erza rushed up and grabbed them both tightly by the arm, "If you think either of you are in any suitable shape to fight then you're wrong!" The two of them both tugged away, "It's fine, it'll be good for us the adapt to fighting in our critical conditions," Rycu explained. "That's good and all but now is not the time," Erza explained as she pushed them both further away from each other.

Lucy came up and grabbed Natsu by the arm, "She's right we've just wrapped up such a major battle so it's time you got some actual rest otherwise you'll just be destroying your body." Natsu let out a sigh, "Fine them. But once I'm full of energy again you won't stop me." Rycu turned away and stared back towards the doors. "Rycu you had a broken arm anyway, it's not like you'll be able to do much good training," Erza pointed out. "Don't sweat it, there's still much I can do," Rycu explained as he walked away. "What's got him in this mood?" Lucy asked. "I don't know but he's been like this since last night most notably," Erza explained. "Just leave him alone for a while, he's just trying to pull himself together," Natsu explained as he left as well.

Not much went on for a while, all there was were conversations for a while until finally snowy footsteps from outside could be heard. Rycu was the fist to notice as his head pointed towards the door and he walked over where five shadows from figures could be seen. A rather tall yet slim person stood in front with four other people behind him, two to each side. Everyone glanced over as the footsteps stopped as they took one last step into the hall.

"Why hello everyone, I am Zaphkiel."


	119. A New Ally

**I know its been nearly 2 months since the previous chapter and I apologise. I had many pc issues that were costly to fix but now everything is sorted I can get back into a routine again.**

Everyone darted their eyes towards the door where they saw Zaphkiel, "So you must be the guys the magic council sent to help us out?" Gray asked. "Indeed we are though I myself will not be staying to accompany you all," Zaphkiel explained as he shook some snow off of himself. "So where will you be going?" Lucy asked as she stepped more forward. Zaphkiel's eyes darted to his left at the tall, blue haired dragon slayer, "I need Rycu. Zamzu, the head of the magic council has requested to see him as soon as possible." "Now? But he's just got off the back end of a large battle! Can't this wait till he's at least in better shape?" Erza asked. "It's fine, a short visit won't kill me," Rycu sighed as he walked forward while holding his arm slightly. "Ah, so you are the one who beat Medusa and killed Nomada? Quite a feat if I say so myself, no wonder Zamzu has had his eyes on you," Zaphkiel said. "Yes I am," Rycu muttered as he gripped his arm even more tightly. He and Zaphkiel both turned around, "Scarlet and Blade, you two both go search the area. Spaze and April, you both help out here until everything is done then send everyone to their guild halls. Then we can finally wipe our hands clean of this mess."

Rycu looked outside and saw a great carriage in front of them and let out a sigh. "What? You think I'd make you walk in your shattered body?" Zaphkiel chuckled. Rycu couldn't help but pull a smile as he took a quick look around him and saw all the destruction, "Finally things taking a step in the right direction." "It appears we'll have a lot of work to clean up this place afterwards. At least everything has been dealt with for now so we'll hopefully have some nice relaxation up until the grand magic games after this winter," Zaphkiel explained as he stepped into the carriage and held his arm out to Rycu. Rycu reached out and grabbed it to pull himself in, "The magic games. Never participated or even watched then." "I'm sure you'd make a fierce contender, maybe this is your year. Forgetting the fact it was a disaster a couple years back, I'm sure it'll be fine. If anything was to happen we have the people like you and I," Zaphkiel explained. Rycu nodded his head as he stared out and looked once more out at the wrecked surroundings before they set off and he looked back at his arm that was still slump down next to him. "We'll patch you up some more before you see Zamzu, it isn't the best to appear like how you are now in front of such an important figure," Zaphkiel explained. Rycu looked down at his scruffy body and had a sudden realisation. He didn't feel motion sick! He stared at himself in shock and quickly analysed his own body. Zaphkiel realised what Rycu was so in shock about, "Ah I remembered before you stepped on about your motion sickness issue that all dragon slayers I know of have. I performed a quick spell on you to stop you feeling motion sick while you weren't paying attention to me." Rycu let out a sigh of relief as he sunk back into his seat, "No sickness today." He thought back a moment as he felt the dark magic energy flow through his body, "Back against Medusa, I wasn't even going all out against her with the Dark Dragon Force and still managed to beat her. It seems like this sort of power should only be used as a last resort or to settle things quickly. Then again, now with Acnologia back on the radar, this may be the power I need to match his full strength." Rycu clenched his first in front of himself, "With Lucifer lurking around as well, I'm not so sure what the next step is for me. But no matter what, I know now they're both a large enough threat for me." He relaxed himself as he locked his eyes onto the sun, "Anyway, I guess it's time to rest at last."

Erza leaned up against a wall as she eagerly stared down at both Spaze and April who were helping out more thoroughly were people's injuries. "Something wrong Erza?" Gray asked as he approached. "Nothing, I'm just curious about this new version of the Magic Council. We had heard hardly anything about them after the pandemonium with Mard Gear and now they suddenly just appeared. Where were they after the whole Acnologia, August and Zeref incident?" Erza asked. "I have no clue. Weird how they just appear now but I guess it doesn't matter much now. Besides, from what we know now, neither Acnologia nor Zeref have been finished with yet. Any day now they could come charging at us with an army and there'd be nothing we can do," Gray explained. "True but they're not likely to attack us until an important time where we'd be vulnerable. The Grand Magic Games are round the corner now with them making it during a winter time this year so we could be attacked at any time," Erza added. "Anyway, we should just relax, the games are right before Christmas so once we're in better shape we can train up for them," Gray sighed. Erza suddenly pulled a great large smile across her face as her cheeks blushed red, "I remember now! This is going to be my first Christmas to celebrate with Rycu! I've got to make sure he's bursting with joy for this!" Gray slowly shuffled away as Erza shouted to herself in excitement.

Natsu stared towards Erza as he let out a great big sigh, "The Grand Magic Games, hopefully it doesn't end like the last one we competed in." "Yeah, that whole dragon issue was terrifying to be in the middle of. I wouldn't be surprised if something went wrong. But we gotta stop looking on the negative side, maybe this year it'll be a bunch of fun to compete in...as long as I don't go up against someone like Flare again," Lucy thought nervously. "That's if you do even compete, they've limited us down to a single team, no extras so we got to have our best at the ready," Natsu explained. Lucy's face lit up with joy, "So you're saying I won't have to go up against any creepy people!" Natsu looked in confusion as he slowly nodded his head, "I doubt we'll lose this year with Rycu on our side. He'll demolish the competition I guarantee." He suddenly realised something, "Wait, with Rycu on our team, that means he'll try to outdo me! I can't let that happen!" "Here he goes again with his rivalry," Lucy sighed as she left him alone.

Spaze glanced out the door as he saw a couple of carriages roll by. He stood by the front door with April to his side. "May I have your attention, all your carriages are now here. They will all escort you back to your guild halls. We thanks you for your help in this situation and bid you farewell," He said as he walked out of the doors. Natsu stared on nervously as he saw the carriages, as did Gajeel and Wendy, "Anything but this! I'd rather walk back home!" Natsu explained as he tried to run away but was suddenly grabbed and picked up, "You're going nowhere Natsu, as are they. We're taking the carriage back weather you like it or not," Erza said fiercely. Wendy and Gajeel scrambled onto the carriage as everyone else did before Natsu was thrown in and almost knocked over the carriage with the force of impact. Lucy was the last one to load in as Happy landed on her shoulder, "I hope Rycu is alright, he seems quite different to me," Lucy said. "I'm sure he's fine, we can only hope for the best," Happy explained as he nudged Lucy forward. "You're right," she sighed as she crawled in and the carriages abruptly set off.

Some time had passed until Rycu finally felt the carriage movements come to a halt. Zaphkiel suddenly pushed open the door as there was a gentle breeze of air. Rycu slowly pulled himself out as he stared ahead at the great building ahead of him. I was like a palace, everything was white with not even the smallest speck of dust to be found in every nook or cranny. "This is our base, where all of us are located. We treat this as our home, nothing less. I consider all my comrades as family which is why we all get along. Of course we do work to rid evil but we don't let that get in the way of what truly matters to us," Zaphkiel explained. Rycu was in astonishment as he stepped forward while still holding his slump arm, "It's unbelievable!" "Come on inside, we'll properly patch you up before you see Zamzu," Zaphkiel explained as he gently pushed him forward.

As Rycu stepped inside he noticed the clear marble floor that was still as clean as the outside was. He was directed forward into a room where there was another wizard with clear healing powers. Zaphkiel moved on forward, "Heal up this man as good as you can, I need him in the best possible condition." He immediately began as he quickly yet thoroughly examined Rycu, "This should be no problem whatsoever." He then began, quickly healing up most of Rycu's wounds that made it look like he was never damaged in the first place. His broken arm was dragged forward. It was twist and turned as the wizard's hands glowed a bright gold colour. It ended as he arms was suddenly pushed forward, snapping it straight back to how it was. Rycu suddenly realised as he could move his arm again, he swung it back and forth and it felt just like before, "Amazing!" "I have finished," The wizard said. "Thanks," Rycu said, still in astonishment. "He's the most advanced healer in the whole world as far as I know. He can heal wounds no matter how deep and damaging they are," Zaphkiel explained as he pulled Rycu up and dragged him to yet another room with a couple of maids standing. "Put this man into clothes," Zaphkiel ordered.

They all surrounded Rycu quickly as they dragged off the remainder of his destroyed clothes. New ones were immediately thrown forward and put onto Rycu. The maids worked so quickly Rycu had hardly realised what had just happened by the time they were done. He looked down at himself as he wore more baggy blue trousers and a dark blue top. He also realised as his blue scarf was wrapped around him. "We had found it on our way here along with another friend's scarf so we took them for now. I'm sure your friend will be happy to see it once you return," Zaphkiel explained. Rycu felt way more comfortable in his clothes as he walked around a little. Zaphkiel suddenly pushed him on as they approached a great, large white door with a golden circle on the direct centre which split in half most likely when the door is opened. "Now you're in far more of a fine condition to see Zamzu," Zaphkiel grinned as he approached the door and slowly pushed it open. The door made a loud rock-like noise as it opened and Rycu moved inside.

Rycu stared ahead as there was a great large thrown at the top which you could get to by going up a countless amount of stairs. On the thrown there was a large, fat man sat on it who also had a fairly long, grey beard. He wore white robes with some gold lined on them. He stared down at Rycu who had moved to kneel. "There is no need to kneel Rycu, I don't mind," He chuckled as he stood up as did Rycu. "I, am Zamzu, the head of the Magic Council. I of course already know who you are, I have been keeping an eye on you recently and to say the least you have been peaking my interests. If I am correct from what Makarov has informed me, you supposedly killed Acnologia, stopped August and Eileen, defeated Zeref and now put an end to Medusa. Quite a nice list of feats. Don't worry, I already deduced myself that you didn't kill Acnologia but a part of him but to still stand up to that much of him is quite impressive," he explained. Rycu shook slightly nervously as Zamzu knew so much about him. "So you will be wondering why I have asked for you, it should not be a surprise with your strength but still. I would like you to join me in defending the people. In other words I would like you to join the Magic Council. Rycu looked in shock, "You want me?" "Why yes of course. Don't worry about leaving everyone behind or anything. You can still live your life in the guild but from time to time I would like you to carry out requests for me. Lets say take out a target demon or stop a threat from damaging the city or killing people. You will of course be rewarded for all of this. Heroic acts can't just go unnoticed. Anyway, you will start on the first day of the new year since I know the Grand Magic Games are just round the corner. So, do you accept?" Zamzu explained. Rycu thought for a second as he stood forward, "So what would the threat level be of every quest you grant me?" "You would be asked to eliminate high level demons and extremely strong mages," Zamzu explained. "Well after my previous encounter, I guess I can expect anything. But just like before I won't let it stop me," Rycu said confidently. Zamzu grinned, "I like your attitude, you'll seemingly face any challenge your way then.

Well, I'd like you to prove how much you stack up now." "What? Send me on a quest already?" Rycu asked in confusion. "Oh no, no, no. I would like you to punch me with everything you have!" Zamzu beckoned. Rycu suddenly felt his heart beat sky rocket as he heard the confidence he boasted, "He's no joke. We haven't even touched one another and his energy is pounding against me." Zamzu placed his wooden staff aside as he stepped forward, "This is just a test of power. Nothing more." Rycu lit his hands with bright red flames, "I can't use my dark energy otherwise he'll know and have me killed." Zamzu held his arm forward towards Rycu, "If you can move me a single meter then you pass. I'll give you three chances only." "Only a meter? Well, if he was easy to move I guess he would have given me a much larger distance to cover," Rycu thought. "Now, do your best," Zamzu muttered. Rycu's arm launched forward and clashed against Zamzu's hand as his flames trained away. He let go as he looked down to see he had only pushed him ten centimetres at most, "Disappointing Rycu, you've got to try harder than that."

"Tch, that was nowhere near enough. He's like a solid statue!" Rycu thought as he brought his fist back and the flame around it became much larger. Zaphkiel watched from behind as he anticipated what would happen, "Rycu doesn't seem to be using the right technique. He has the power to do this but his not implementing the full force of his body." Rycu's arm jolted forward once again, he felt the stinging of his fist as it collided against Zamzu's solid hand. There was a strong gust of wind as Zamzu was blasted back another three quarters of a meter, "Better, but not enough." "Dammit, this isn't going to work at all. Just spreading all my energy into my fist won't work. I've got to change my technique," Rycu thought. He placed one foot in front of the other as he put all his weight on his back leg, "If this doesn't work then nothing will," he thought as his flame became ever brighter. Zamzu grinned as he noticed what Rycu was doing. "Take this!" Rycu shouted as he leaped off of one foot forward with his flame trailing directly behind him. His fist clashed for the last time as there was a sudden violent shake as Zamzu was pushed backwards and Rycu continued pushing. Zaphkiel chuckled as the ground calmed. Zamzu was blasted back tens of meters as Rycu finally let go and landed on his feet. Zamzu stopped himself as his his eyes darted back forward, "Impressive, so you found the technique in the end. Remember that, it may be useful to you some day." Rycu let out a huge sigh of relief as he looked at his bruised hand, "That enough for you?"

"Well I haven't found someone with such extravagant skill as you for a long time. It's good for you to know my hand actually stings a little now. From here on I know you will get stronger. With cooperation you'll be a giant threat to even the likes of Acnologia," Zamzu explained as he picked up his staff, "I believed you have proved yourself worthy of my time so go on back to your guild. I shall be in contact with Makarov who shall pass information onto you." Rycu nodded his head as he turned round to leave. "And remember Rycu, it's not always about brute strength!" Zamzu beckoned.

Rycu stood outside as the cold winter air blew against him. He looked to his left towards the guild as he could sense something, "The demon is gone but something still doesn't feel right. I can still sense an overwhelming amount of dark energy." He stepped forward as his feet were covered by snow which was getting faster and more aggressive. Rycu held a fist as a black flame overcame it.

"Whatever lies next. I'm ready for it."


	120. A Strange Power

**Apologies for another chapter wait. I tried to finish a chapter before leaving for holiday but I couldn't but now everything is cleared I will get more chapters out. Not like I haven't said this before but I'll try!**

Rycu walk along the snowy path as layers of snow continued to pile up, from a distance, the town looked so bright in contrast to the sky which was progressively getting darker, "Already late evening," he sighed in disappointment. The trees beside the path stood tall and strong as the freezing winds tried to blow them over and the snow coated them. "I can still feel that great dark energy from earlier, it seems to be around the mountains but I can't be bothered to find out for myself now. I'll just return to the guild before it's too late out," Rycu though as he sped up slightly. He could see the guild hall from a distance as it shone brightly like everything else, he could even hear them slightly. Everything started to hang in his thoughts again though, Medusa, Lucifer, Acnologia were all on his mind.

Rycu looked up above the mountains as he imagined to himself Acnologia in his dragon form sitting atop of it and effortlessly crumbling everything around him, "Just imagining the limits of Acnologia is nerve-wrecking, if he even has any. I wouldn't doubt it if Acnologia's complete energy combined could destroy the whole planet. It just shows exactly what I'm up against and it only spells doom for us all at this rate. We don't even know what his intentions are currently and when he could attack." Rycu stopped himself for a moment, "I just need to relax, I destroyed Nomada so lets just slow down and celebrate our current victory before the joy dies down. I'll just be concerning everyone if I get too caught up in what's to come… Still though, I just have to stay on guard."

"Finally returned have you?" Asked a voice as Rycu darted his eyes over to a tree where Eileen leaned against it. "And you're still lurking around at this time?" Rycu asked back. "I couldn't help it, I was too eager to see you," Eileen grinned as she looked down Rycu's body to see how healed it was, "Not a scratch then?" "It was rough to say the least. Medusa was more than just a hassle for me, she nearly killed me as did her friend Sky if you could even call her that," Rycu explained as he walked past Eileen and as he looked at his right hand which was wrapped in bandages to cover the black marks. "Where do you think you're going now?" Eileen asked. "Back to the guild hall, I think. I need to just relax after everything that's happened in the last couple days. I need time to gather all my thoughts," Rycu explained. "It was that bad then?" Eileen asked again. "To say the least, there was more to that mission than what first met the eye. And the costs were greater than what I anticipated," Rycu explained. "But that's not it, continue," Eileen said. There was a long pause, "During a fight, I was critically wounded and I could have died then and there. Sawyer though, came to my rescue and distracted her long enough for me to recover. However, she killed him in the process."

There was another long pause as Eileen stepped forward slightly, "You don't have to solely blame yourself for this. He could have easily let you die, he decided to make that sacrifice, not you." Rycu stayed silent as he looked onwards at the snowy path ahead, "You would think that after so long, I would be able to look after myself, you'd think I wouldn't let anything phase me. This just show how much I've failed myself." Rycu continued to walk onwards as he felt the dark energy through him pulse, "I don't even understand myself any more, I need to control myself but I just can't. Everything for Lucifer is going to plan but there's nothing I can do. The dark energy inside of me, I can't fight it, I can't let anybody know. Eventually I know it'll take over, it's just a matter of time." Eileen looked on as she turned around, "He just seems to be constantly beating himself up over this. He knows the consequences of his actions very well so what the hell has gotten into him to change him like this?"

Rycu walked on through the streets as the guild hall was in sight. He glanced to his right as there was a lake that had a thick layer of ice on it, "That cold eh?" People all around were having a joyful time as they were setting up decorations and buying gifts. In no time Rycu already stood outside the guild hall door. Rycu pulled a faint smile to seem as if he was happier. He pushed open the doors as he let out a huge sigh. As they flung open, all eyes were suddenly locked on him. "Look who finally made it," Gildarts chuckled as he stood up. "Oh hey Rycu!" Natsu yelled in joy as he leaped in front of him. "What was all that about with the council?" Lucy asked. "Eh it was nothing, just wanted to know about what happened," Rycu explained. "What so they patched you up with a fresh set of clothes also?" Gray asked. "Yeah, my arms certainly feels a lot better now," Rycu said. Erza let out a sigh, "At least you're finally back here safe."

"Everyone was telling us about what happened. You really took a beating during that but regardless you came out on top," Laxus laughed. Everyone went back to their conversations as Makarov and Rycu locked eyes, "Excuse me for a second," Rycu said as he moved over. The two moved into another room quickly. "So then, I heard most of what happened. You released the demon, defeated Jax, defeated Sky and then Medusa and Nomada by the skin of your teeth. Quite eventful for you it seems," Makarov explained. "What's your point?" Rycu asked. "You seem to be constantly putting yourself in danger. At this rate you'll get yourself killed at your recklessness," Makarov explained. "I highly doubt that, I know how to survive a fight," Rycu added. "Then what about Sawyer. I know about what happened there, you were in danger and he sacrificed himself to save you," Makarov said. Rycu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "I was losing to Sky by the lack of my own strength. I would never put another life in the way to save myself." "Oh I know well but you underestimated your opponent. If you continue on like this, just how many more would you get killed? There are larger threats waiting for you out there. So not only look out for your allies but yourself," Makarov explained. "He's trying to anger me, I have to keep myself together. He want me to lose control of myself," Rycu thought as he took a deep breath.

Makarov could tell Rycu had figured him out, "Anger can be fatal at times. It may give us power but it also creates hate. Too much can spiral people out of control and force them into a fatal situation. You need to be able to control your anger, you can't let it blind you but you can use it for power. Emotions are amazing things, sorrow, joy...each one can tell its own story. There is this one story, it was about the daughter of a proud warrior. She lost everything in a single night, her friends were slaughtered by the wrath of a dragon and her father sacrificed himself to save her. From then on she completely lost herself, she wanted revenge but knew she wasn't strong enough. She was so desperate that she sought out a dark wizard who offered to her that she would gain unrivalled strength but at a cost. For centuries after she caused mayhem across the entire continent out of anger in search of this beast. One day she finally found it, but, her fate is unknown. So you see now, anger can be an awful thing, that's why we must control it." Rycu stayed silent as he turned around. "You may leave," Makarov said. Rycu turned around and got to the door before glancing slightly back and leaving.

Rycu slumped down on a seat as he watched Natsu jump around, "Considering he got beaten up pretty badly by Medusa, he's doing pretty fine," he thought. "Are you doing ok Rycu?" Erza asked as she sat down next to him. "Yeah, I'm thinking about the magic games that are coming next, I'm not gonna hold back at them. But I'm also thinking about Acnologia also, now we know he's still lurking around, I doubt he'll miss this large opportunity to strike," Rycu explained. "That's true but whatever happens, all of us together can fight him off, we will never let him win," Erza said. Rycu thought for a moment, "No, it's not just about teamwork, no matter how many of us there are, even if we push ourselves to our absolute limit, sometimes you still can't win. That's how it feels right now. Acnologia's power is limitless, we'd need more than teamwork to stop him, even if it's not for long. But like you said, we won't let him win. No matter the cost I will find a way to stop him." "Promise me though Rycu, you won't get yourself killed," Erza demanded. "I promise," Rycu whispered as he stood up and looked outside to see how dark it was. "Heading back now?" Gray asked. "It's best not to stay out in the dark," Rycu muttered as he nudged Natsu who also looked outside. People were already leaving like in a dense crowd as they split off in different directions.

"Hey Natsu, I'll race you back home!" Rycu shouted with a massive grin on his face. "You're on!" Natsu yelled as he blasted ahead. Rycu just stood still for a while, "Aren't you going to catch up to him?" Lucy asked. "I'm just giving him a head start," Rycu laughed as he turned around and leaped forward. Natsu was boosting himself forward with his flames as he got closer and closer to the hut, "Is he even trying?" he thought to himself as he landed in front of the hut and looked around in confusion, "whatever I'll take an easy victory any day!" Natsu stepped inside as he suddenly froze up with confusion as he saw Rycu already laying down on his bed, "Took your time didn't you?" "How did you get here so fast!" Natsu exclaimed in disbelief. "I took the long way around," Rycu grinned as he laid back. "Well I won't let you slip past me like that next time!" Natsu threatened as he laid down, "Tomorrow morning, I'll race you down to the guild hall before we do any sort of training!" "Sure," Rycu muttered as he closed his eyes and Natsu went silent as they both fell asleep.

It was a while past midnight, there was complete silence. The snow gently floated down and continued to pile on the floor. Rycu suddenly jolted up as he heard a loud crack. He looked to his left and saw how Natsu was still snoring away, "Of course he slept through that. He could sleep through a damn war." He lifted himself up as he felt a strong dark energy once more. He could feel his heartbeat raise as he tensed up, "Whatever that is, I've got to find out. It keeps messing with me." He slowly but steadily walked outside as the snow floated onto him. It was freezing out but Rycu took it like it was a casual summers day unlike others who would be wrapped up in hundreds of layers to keep them warm. He looked around but there was nothing he could see even from up top, "That can't have just been nothing, guess I have to look around," Rycu thought as he leaped forwards towards the centre of the city where he could sense the dark energy even more stronger. He landed on a house as he once again surveyed the area to see nothing but the dark energy grew stronger and was leading him closer to the guild hall, "I don't sense it moving, it's like it's waiting for me." Rycu's eyes locked on the guild hall as he noticed a dark aura and he leaped straight for it as he noticed giant cracks in the ground beneath him that were slowly being filled up with snow and were all leading towards the guild hall also, "This can't be coincidental," he thought as he finally landed within tens of meters of the hall.

Ahead he finally saw the source of the energy. Ahead, was a large sword stabbed into the floor with the cracks around it glowing black like the colour of the blade. It had marks along each side that were hardly noticeable and the edge seemed so sharp that even the most hesitant of a touch could cut straight to the bone. Furthermore, the handle was wrapped in some strange, black, leathery material which would provide grip to it. "What the hell is that?" Rycu thought as the dark energy felt overwhelmingly strong. He slowly yet hesitantly began to reach his hand towards the handle, he could feel all the energy pushing against his hand even from tens of centimetres away. He gave a sudden push forward as a single finger skimmed against the handle. In that instant, there was a bolt of dark electricity that jumped from the blade and hit Rycu square in the chest and blasted him against the floor and slid him back. The blade began to glow bright as it kept disappearing and reappearing as if it was glitching. Rycu looked up in time as there was a great bright glow that blinded him for a moment. When the light faded, he could see again but now there was no sword in the floor, just a giant crack that spread in hundreds of directions. Rycu scrambled to his feet as he looked on speechless, "What the hell was that? It was like some weird ancient sword but it vanished out of thin air!" While he was stood still, there was slow movement behind him but he was too dumbfounded to fully take notice of it.

Rycu looked behind him as he quickly checked to see if anyone was around but he saw absolutely nobody. He turned back around as he examined where the sword had once been, "Where did that come from? And more importantly, where did it go now?" Before Rycu even had time to think about it, an arm suddenly wrapped around his neck tightly to stop his breathing. Rycu quickly grabbed the arm as his instinct and tried to pull but before he could…another arm pierced straight through him, around the area of his stomach. Rycu's eyes went bloodshot as he felt his crimson red blood dripping down to the floor. He couldn't scream or shout as he struggled but his movements got slower and slower as his eyes were becoming heavy. He could feel the breath of the person directly against his ear, "Shhhhhhhhh...be quiet now...don't make me choke you more than I already am." It was a feminine voice, it sounded so calm and gentle in a soft whisper. It was like she couldn't hurt a fly but…she already was causing pain. Rycu kept trying to fight for his consciousness but couldn't. He could hear her giggle, she probably had a large smirk on her face that showed all her evil intent and hidden nature. Rycu collapsed. He smashed straight against the floor as the girl let out a sigh, "How pathetic, only one cheap shot and he's already done for." She turned away and began to walk elsewhere while laughing to herself as she muttered one more thing under her breath.

"See you around...Rycu."


	121. Arrogance

**I know, I broke my promise of a chapter once again but as usual a bunch of stuff has come up. I can never give a definite time of a chapter but with everything on my plate. There's the possibility of one every 2 weeks.**

Rycu's body laid there, motionless, as his blood spread into the snow around him. He was freezing as the snow piled on top of him. Even his insides were slightly cold as his wound was pushed directly against the snow. His hair was ever so slightly blown by a gust of wind every once in a while with there sometimes being multiple blows. Also, the snow was all in his hair, slightly mixing with its blue colour.

Rycu laid there as time passed on, near complete silence around him other than the bursts of wind and the delicate snow. Eventually, there were loud footsteps rushing towards him as they crunched in the snow, "Rycu!" the voice yelled. They kneeled right next to him and turned his body over where they saw the critical wound. They panted heavily in panic as they lifted him up and rushed into the guild hall. The door was swung open aggressively as the wind assisted them. They slammed the door shut behind before the snow managed to pile up. They rushed around quickly, lighting all of the torches mounted to the walls on fire.

The room had gone from being pitch black to full of light within a matter of seconds. Makarov appeared over the banister, looking down on them, "Mira?" He saw her as she finished lighting the torches and then saw Rycu who laid on the floor. "Master! Quick!" Mira shouted as she began to apply pressure to Rycu's wound. Makarov rushed down the stairs towards Rycu's body, "What on earth happened?" "I don't know master! I found him just outside of the guild hall, collapsed onto the floor!" Mira shouted as she felt her hands wet from the quickly melting snow that Rycu was covered him. Makarov examined Rycu's body, "Bring him upstairs," he said as he rushed off upstairs and into the door as the end. Mira carried Rycu up there and moved him into the room. In there, what would be a wall was a massive glass dome that stretched outwards.

Makarov had laid out a blanket that Mira laid Rycu across. "I don't understand how this happened," Mira said as she began to search for something to cover Rycu's wound, checking all the draws. "It's evident that Rycu was attacked by someone and I have an idea in mind as to who it could be but I'm not definite. They were aiming for a critical blow it seems but it wasn't enough," Makarov explained as he grabbed a towel. Mira finally managed to find a roll of bandages as she passed them over to Makarov who gave her the towel. Mira wiped around Rycu's stomach area to dry it. Makarov then wrapped over the wound multiple times with the bandages to completely cover it up.

Mira quickly began to dry Rycu with the towel as she relaxed a little more knowing he was safe. "He appears in a stable condition," Makarov explained. "Thank God, I was worried for him then," Mira sighed as she continued to dry him. Rycu's hand suddenly twitched as his eyes finally opened and he let out a wince trying to move. "Rycu!" Mira exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around him in joy. Rycu looked around slightly as he saw the bandage round his stomach, "Dammit that hurts," he said as he finally managed to pull himself upright. "You've suffered a great injury from something, do you remember what happened?" Makarov asked as he stared eye-to-eye with him.

Rycu stared in confusion as he let out a sigh, "I honestly can't remember all too much, some weird weapon was jabbed into the floor and in the next seconds I'm stabbed and fall unconscious to floor." Rycu slowly pushed himself up as his back ached and he grabbed onto a shelf to keep him standing. "You have to rest Rycu, you're in an awful state! You're only gonna make yourself worse without it!" Mira yelled as she grabbed his other arm to support him. Rycu shook his arm to get her off, "I'm fine, I know how to look after myself. This, aint shit on what I went through already with Medusa and such. Now that, was rough," Rycu explained as he stared at his arm which was once broken. "Everything is piling up on you though, your body wasn't fully recovered after the Nomada encounter and this injury is just stacking up with everything else," Makarov said as he examined Rycu.

He was slightly limping and was holding his right arm around his stomach as it was bright red. His left eye was also slightly closed as he stumbled forward and nearly was falling over. "Come on Rycu, you know you have to rest," Mira sighed as she caught up to him in seconds. Rycu stumbled forward once more as he landed on a single knee and his grip on consciousness was loosening. Makarov sighed as he turned away for a brief moment, "I told you, you need some rest now Rycu."

Rycu closed his eyes as he collapsed against the floor. "Rycu!" Mira exclaimed as she quickly checked Rycu. "He's out cold but he seems fine still. I'd think in his state, it'd be morning till he wakes up again," Mira explained as she put her hand on his forehead to check his temperature. "Why does he have to be so rebellious? He hasn't been acting the same since he got back from the mission as far as I know," Makarov explained. Mira placed an arm underneath Rycu's legs and one underneath his back as she lifted his body up and stared down at the empty blanket. "You and I both know how careless he's becoming, on his own, he's going to get himself killed," Makarov explained as he glanced upon his unconscious body in Mira's arms. "What do you suggest then?" Mira asked as she slowly but gently laid Rycu's body across the blanket and let go of him before covering him up with another blanket for warmth.

Makarov thought once more, "Mira, I would like you to look after Rycu from now on until I say otherwise," he explained. "You want me to? Wouldn't he be better off with Erza or someone else?" Mira said in complete shock. "It'd be best for Erza and whatnot to focus on their training for now, Rycu would just be a hassle for her. Also, I think you are the best choice to look after him anyway, I trust you know what you're doing with him," Makarov said as he began to leave, "I will still be here if you need me. Just keep a keen eye on him tomorrow, he'll probably act as stubborn as he did now. Don't let him train yet either, I know the magic games are up-coming but it'll just further stress his body. I don't want to see him any worse than how he is now." Mira had nothing to say as he left so she just stared down at Rycu's face in a slight sad look as she was processing everything, "Oh Rycu, what have you gotten yourself into?" She let out a sigh as she stroked Rycu's cheek and looked around to see how dark it had become. Mira laid down next to Rycu and pulled the blanket slightly over her also as she closed her eyes and fell asleep fairly quickly from how tired she was.

It hit the break of dawn and Mira jolted up as she heard a loud thud. She glanced behind her and saw Rycu missing from where he laid. She then darted her head back in front of her as she saw Rycu leaning onto the wall while trying to move forward. "Hey! Stop!" Mira exclaimed as she rushed over to Rycu and put his arm around her, "I don't think you're fit enough yet. That injury still looks nasty," she said as she saw a massive red mark around the bandage. "I'm...fine" Rycu panted as he reached for the door handle and twisted it but found it wouldn't open. "I think it's a little jammed," Mira said as she began to reach for the handle herself. Rycu suddenly kicked the door with the little power he had left in him, causing the door to fly off of its hinges and smash into another door. "Maybe a little unnecessary," Mira said nervously as she helped Rycu forward. Makarov had seen the door fly off but he didn't say anything as he sat on his stool downstairs, "Awake are you?" "Yes I am, and still not dead," Rycu sighed as he made it down the stairs and sat on a stool by the bar facing Makarov as Mira rushed back upstairs.

"So you still remember hardly anything from last night? Not even why you were out in the first place?" Makarov asked. "I came out because I was sensing a growing dark energy which was disturbing me. I got to the blade and it vanished as I said before. Then I was attacked," Rycu explained as he let out a great sigh and grabbed a bottle of alcohol then poured it into a small glass, "I have a feeling whoever it was isn't through with me just yet." "I almost guarantee that's the case which is why I'm having Mira look after you from now on till this situation is resolved," Markarov explained. Rycu took a sip from his drink, "That's unnecessary, I can look after myself perfectly fine. I have done for a long time." "You say that but how many times have you ended up like how you are now. Weak and defeated?" Makarov answered back. Rycu had a deep sigh and took another sip of his drink, "Too many to count. But none of them have ever kept me down for long. This won't be an exception." "I guess we'll have to see about that won't we," Makarov sighed.

Mira came behind Rycu and put a blanket on him to warm him up and then went around tidying things. "So, what's the plan from here onwards?" Rycu asked as he pulled the blanket more tightly around him. "Well, we want to get you back to your best condition as soon as possible for the magic games which are in a few weeks time. Before then, I'd like to get these shenanigans solved and find out who's behind your attack. After the Magic Games, assuming nothing happens by then, we'll try and keep a low activity and you can help out with the council since I know about your link with them already thanks to Zamzu," Makarov explained. Rycu sighed as he looked back at Mira, "The Magic Games are in teams of five aren't they? Who are you planning on putting on the team?"

"Unlike a few years back, we can no longer have two teams which has made my options even stricter. So far, I plan on having you, if you've recovered enough, Natsu, Gajeel, Gray and Erza on the team," Makarov said. "What if I don't recover enough?" Rycu asked. Makarov looked at him in curiosity, "Then I'll most likely have Wendy take your place." "I hope it doesn't have to come to that then. Though it shouldn't," Rycu mumbled as he took another sip from his drink. Makarov looked at Rycu and examined the bandages still round his arm from when Medusa broke it, "So, what happened with Medusa once you finished your fight? Supposedly the council haven't managed to find her so they need her tracking down before anything happens again." Rycu paused just before he took a sip of his drink and thought to himself, "Maybe one of her wizards decided to hid his body." "She ran," Rycu said aloud, I was too exhausted to catch up to her." "I see, well they couldn't find Sky either, I assume it was the same?" Makarov asked. Rycu nodded his head slightly as he drank.

There was a loud noise at the guild doors as Natsu came rushing in, in panic, "Rycu! Are you alright?" Natsu rushed forth and saw Rycu's wound immediately, "What the hell happened to you?" "I was just attacked, it was nothing too serious, there's no need to worry about me," Rycu sighed. "Attacked? I'm gonna find whatever punk did this and beat them to hell!" Natsu exclaimed in anger. Rycu grabbed Natsu's arm and tugged it, "Leave it Natsu, it's fine." "What do you mean it's fine?! I'm not gonna let someone just attack you and get away with it!" Natsu shouted. "They aren't gonna get away with it, it's just that you're not going to be the one to do it for me. I'll get revenge back myself," Rycu sighed. "Ugh fine but I'm gonna give them hell when it's my turn!" Natsu yelled. Rycu sighed as he heard Erza, Gray, Lucy and Wendy come rushing through the guild halls. "What's wrong now?" Gray asked as he saw how angry Natsu sounded. Erza immediately rushed over to Rycu and saw the wound around his stomach, "What on Earth happened to you?" "Some asshole decided to attack Rycu last night and thought they could get away with it!" Natsu exclaimed once more before Gray whacked him on the back of the head to signal to him to calm down. "That looks painful," Wendy said as she began to use healing magic over the wound. "A single attack got him into such as bad state?" Lucy asked in awe. "It's called letting your guard down," Gray sighed. "I'll explain the details after to you all, the point is that we have some hidden threat that must be targeting Rycu currently so we must stop them as soon as possible!" Makarov explained. "Hell yeah!" Natsu yelled again as Gray whacked him once more.

"How very intriguing," A voice said as everyone turned around to see Zamzu at the doors.

"I say it's about time I intervene."


	122. Dreg

Rycu slowly stood up as he glanced at Zamzu, "I'm surprised to see you here. What do you want with me now?" "Makarov told me last night about what had happened so I've come to figure things out and settle things with whoever attacked you myself. Just letting this go on like nothing happened is unacceptable," Zamzu explained. Everyone but Makarov and Rycu seemed in shock by Zamzu's arrival and kept quiet. "Well, that's kind of you, but I want to handle things myself with whoever this is. They must have some personal vendetta with me," Rycu sighed as he paced around slowly as he gained some strength back and tried to cover up his limping. "That will not happen Rycu, you are not in a state to handle something like this," Zamzu protested. "They only got one cheap shot on me, in a head-on battle I could handle them just fine," Rycu explained. "That's the point Rycu, it would only take them one blow like that for them to make easy work of you," Zamzu said immediately back. Rycu stopped his movement and took a deep breath, "I guess. In that case what do you want with me now?"

"Information about the night. What time was it around, anything about your attacker, anything you surveyed," Zamzu explained. "My memory is quite foggy so bare with me. From what I recall, it was around midnight and there was a high dark energy reading around this area so I went to investigate. I found some weird sort of sword jammed into the ground that was full to the brim of dark energy but it vanished to somewhere. No idea what it was but I wouldn't doubt it if someone wanted it. It seems like a pretty strong weapon. And in regards to my attacker, all I know is that they're female," Rycu explained as he leaned up against a wall. "Some sort of magic weapon you say? That could be useful to acquire to keep it away from it getting into the wrong hands," Zamzu explained as he glanced outside the guild doors behind him. "Problem is that we have no clue how dangerous that weapon could be, for all we know, even wielding that weapon could kill someone or make them as powerful as the Gods," Rycu sighed.

"Surely we could get Levy to research into this weird weapon, there has to something on it unless it has literally just come out of thin air and nobody knows what it is," Lucy interrupted. "I guess that would be useful, but then what else can we do?" Gray moaned as he was bored. "We can try and find that weapon, even if it keep moving around, surely there's only a limited amount of time until even one of us finds it," Erza suggested. "Yeah, I'll be the first to find it and bring it straight to ya!" Natsu exclaimed in excitement as he had something to do other than train. "All of your assistance would be greatly appreciated," Zamzu grinned as Natsu charged immediately through the doors and was out in the open to search for the weapon. "I'll make sure he causes no trouble," Erza sighed as she rushed after him. "I guess I will too," Gray moaned as he rushed just behind Erza. "I can go inform levy of this artefact and help her find out what it is!" Lucy suggested. "Oh! I can help with that!" Wendy said enthusiastically as the two of them left which just left Rycu, Makarov, Mira and Zamzu.

"Guess I have to do something myself. I can go look for the weapon," Rycu sighed as he began to walk to the guild doors. Zamzu stuck his arm out in front of Rycu to stop him and stared him directly in the eyes, "That's far to dangerous for you right now. You will return with me to the council and look through some of the books there to figure out what that weapon is." "Books? But that sounds boring," Rycu moaned. "Well it's the most use you can be right now, so just go with him. You too, Mira," Makarov explained. Mira quickly put on her thick black coat and let Rycu put his arm around her to make it easier to move. "I guess I don't have a choice then," Rycu sighed as he nodded to Zamzu that they could leave. "Let us go then!" Zamzu yelled as he clapped his hands and went out the guild hall with Rycu and Mira just behind him. Outside Rycu could see the council building faintly but a lot of his vision was being blocked by the relentless snow, "Curse this weather." Mira could tell Rycu was forcing all his movements through all of the pain, "Don't push yourself, you'll only make it worse. You've got to learn when you have to rest." "I'm fine, if it doesn't kill me then it doesn't matter," Rycu moaned. "But it could lead to your death. You know how many could be waiting out there to try and kill you," Mira explained as she made him go slower. "She's right Rycu, just take it easy now," Zamzu said. Rycu gritted his teeth as he began to get annoyed but held himself back, "Lets just get to the building."

Meanwhile, Natsu was leaping all over the place in search of the weapon, "Surely it has to be nearby! How did Rycu manage to detect it so easily?" Erza and Gray were both right behind, "He's full of surprises isn't he? You'll just have to ask him yourself!" Erza yelled as she landed on top of a building and looked all around. "I don't see anything at all!" Gray shouted in frustration as he stomped his foot against the floor, accidentally shattering an area of it effortlessly. Natsu had his hands in the head, "I don't get it, how could a simple weapon or relic travel so far on it's own!?" "What if it's not travelling on its own? What if whoever attacked Rycu has it now?" Gray suggested. "But with a wielder to it, of all things it should magnificently increase the dark energy. It'd be like a beacon," Erza explained.

Natsu went completely silent and focused on the sources of dark energy he could sense to try and locate it. He could feel a few sources around him but none of them seemed substantial enough to be the weapon. Suddenly, Natsu nearly fell over from the great energy he suddenly sensed, "I've got something!" Natsu yelled as he began to leap towards the forest where he was sensing the energy. Within no time, he blasted through some snowy trees to try and get to the source which was seemingly moving. "What has he found now," Erza thought in interest as she halted her movement where Natsu halted. In front of them stood a fairly large sort of ogre, it wasn't as tall as the trees but it still towered over the three of them. "Hate to break it to you Natsu, but I don't think this is a sword," Gray sighed as he felt disappointed. "Shut up Gray!" Natsu yelled as he kicked him away. Gray prepared to launch back at Natsu before Erza gave them both a stern look, "Can you both stop fighting for five minutes so we can deal with this!" The two of them both nervously focused their attention on the ogre instead as they sensed how angry Erza was getting.

"Alright then, lets take out the trash!" Natsu yelled as he launched towards the ogre with a flaming fist, punching it in one of its hundred eyes and causing some strange green goo to burst out of it which covered Natsu's chest. He seemed fine for a moment before yelling in pain as his skin began to burn. "Natsu!" Both Gray and Erza yelled. "It's like an acid! This thing has acid for blood!" Natsu yelled as he ripped off his upper-body clothing which was covered in the acid. "Guess we have to be more careful," Gray explained as he placed his hand near the floor and a massive shard of ice from under the floor came up and pierced through the ogre which split it in half and caused its acid blood to flow everywhere. "Too easy," Gray sighed. Moments later there was some strange beam between the two halfs of the ogre which immediately pulled it together and made it look like nothing happened. "It's a demon," Erza realised as she switched to her light magic armour. "Ugh, don't make me have to use my devil slayer magic now," Gray sighed.

Natsu was scratching his skin as it felt rather irritated from the acid. Erza threw one of her swords directly into the ogre's chest which struck a giant beam of light on him and caused it to stumble back. Natsu still couldn't stop scratching his skin as he was trying to concentrate on the battle. Gray glanced at Natsu and noticed his problem, "Erza! Go help Natsu and get him somewhere safe while I deal with this thing myself!" "Can you handle this Gray!?" Erza yelled as the ogre pulled the sword out and shot a pool of acid at Erza and Natsu. "Ice wall!" Gray shouted as a thick layer of ice appeared in the path of the acid and stopped it. The ogre darted it's head at Gray, "You're mine now!" Gray yelled as he launched forwards, creating a small platform of ice beneath him which he leaped off of for extra height. "Ice-make Cold Excalibur!" Gray yelled as a giant sword appeared in his right hand, "Lets see what make this'll leave on you, you stupid demon!" Gray was still for a moment as he got closer to the ogre with the sword trailing behind him. Suddenly, Gray swung the sword forward, cutting the ogre in half once again but then quickly followed up, slashing the ogre hundreds of times in an instant with the blade, turning it into small cubes that were hard to see with a human eye.

Gray landed on his feet and glanced behind him realising something wasn't right. All of the tiny cube pieces suddenly all began to pile on top of each other in a completely different order than what they'd look like on the ogre. A black aura appeared around all the pieces as with a giant flash of light, the ogre reappeared how it was before, without a single scratch. "You've gotta be kidding me! Can you even die you demon?!" Gray yelled as he cautiously stepped back. There was a sudden large, disturbing noise from the demon as its mouth opened and all of its rotting teeth could be seen, "I...am no demon from Zeref...I am no demon at all." The ogre spoke very slowly and had large gaps in-between each word. "You speak!?" Gray said in shock as he backed up further away. "Yeeeessssssss," The ogre spoke as he stepped closer towards Gray intimidatingly as it at the same time began to glow a dark shade of green, "And I...will kill you."

Meanwhile, but a little earlier on, Rycu, Mira and Zamzu made it to the council. "Wow! I've never been here before! It looks so large and pretty!" Mira said in awe. "Why thank you, it took the work of some very talented wizards to build this place," Zamzu said cheerily. Rycu was ahead of them both as he was sensing a weird dark energy but different to what he felt last night so he decided to stay quiet about it. As they got to the doors, Rycu took one last look around but saw nothing suspicious so he quickly entered and looked around to see Christmas decorations all along the walls. Mira was immediately enticed by all the vibrant colours and decorations, "This looks amazing." "Didn't even know you decorated this place," Rycu muttered. "There's not a reason to liven up the place is there? It's always fun to have a different look at times, otherwise all these white corridors would bore you to death," Zamzu explained as he lead them to another room which was gigantic. There was hundreds of shelves in rows around nearly the entire perimeter of the room and then at least half a dozen rows of books on each side which stretched to each corner of the room.

Zamzu immediately moved to the fourth row of shelves and started checking books in that area, "These are all the books on dark magic weaponry and relics, or at least half of them. There could be something in these. Me and Mira will search here. Rycu, you go search the shelves by the window. They are the rest I believe." Rycu wandered off to the window as Mira and Zamzu began checking. Mira had a book titled, ' _Dark Magic Weaponry Through the Ages_ ' and Zamzu had a book titled ' _Dark Magic Weaponry: Swords_ '. Rycu let out a huge sigh as he picked out a random book called ' _The Unknown Danger of Dark Magic_ '. Rycu began to quickly skim through the pages, looking at key chapters and diagrams to see if he spotted anything, but there was nothing. "Now would be a good time to have Levy," Rycu sighed as he placed the book back and picked up another called ' _Dark Magic Crafts of the Past_ '. He skimmed through the book but once again found nothing of use.

"Have you two had any luck?" Rycu asked as he peaked round the corner of the shelf row. "Nothing sadly, it's as if it isn't even in these books." Mira shook her head. Rycu went back and examined the shelf carefully, "What's this?" Rycu thought to himself as he spotted a dusty book in the corner of the shelf. He grabbed it and blew some dust off of it so he could read the title which said, ' _The Forbidden Weaponry of the Magic World'_. Rycu immediately flung the book open without a single care for its condition and scanned through some pages until he finally found something of use. The page had a hand drawing of a dark sword on it. Rycu began reading the information to himself, ' _This ancient weapon has never been recorded in any other book before. This is wildly because of how the weapon constantly_ _teleports from place to place. The most dangerous feature of this weapon is how it creates monsters known as Dreg which are near-invincible and take unbelievable amounts of strength_ _to_ _-'._

Rycu had a sudden realisation as he tossed the book aside and rushed out of the room, "Rycu?!" Zamzu yelled in confusion as he rushed after him with Mira right behind. Zamzu, as he got out of the room, saw Rycu as he was at the front doors, bending his knees as fire was coming out of his feet. "What are you doing Rycu!?" Mira yelled as she dashed towards him. Rycu didn't even pay attention to her and blasted himself towards the trees where he was feeling the great levels of darkness before. "Damn, this can't be good. Mira, stay back here as look through whatever book Rycu was reading and see what you find. I'm going after him," Zamzu ordered as he flew off behind Rycu. Mira quickly moved back to the library and saw the page Rycu was on as she pieced things together herself, "Oh no. This can't be good!"

Gray was standing in front of the ogre, still in shock from the realisation that it could talk. "Y-you're gonna kill me are you!? Sorry to break your confidence but that ain't gonna happen!" Gray yelled as he clenched his fists. The ogre started to slowly yet creepily laugh, "Ha ha ha...we shall see about that..." "This is just a single monster but it's still creeping me out. It's unsettling as hell, especially with the slow, deep voice of his. I've just gotta try and put my fear aside," Gray thought to himself as he charged as the ogre with Cold Excalibur again in hand. "Lets see how big of a mark this leaves on you then!" Gray shouted as he sliced at the ogre's neck. The sword suddenly shattered as it touched it's skin, with the diamond-like pieces shattering against the floor further. The ogre laughed again, "That tickles." The ogre smashed its foot against the floor which alone caused a shock-wave that blasted Gray away and made him land on his side.

"His skin was like butter a moment ago. Now it's as tough as obsidian it feels!" Gray thought in disbelief as he launched himself off of the floor and back onto his feet. "You are a puny wizard," The ogre said as he stepped forward. "Lets just say I've faced tougher nuts then you," Gray sighed as he put a foot forward, "and none of them have ever stayed intact for long!" Gray yelled as he propelled himself forward with another ice sword in his hands. Gray raised his hands to cut a giant x-shape into the ogre but once again, as his blades touched the ogre's skin, they shattered instantly. "You've gotta be shitting me!" Gray thought as he bounced off of the ogre's chest which left him right in front of it. The ogre quickly raised its arm and struck down at Gray but he narrowly managed to avoid the attack.

"Alright, enough playing around!" Gray yelled as he placed his hand to the floor which turned the whole area around the ogre to ice. While it was distracted, Gray leaped forward once again and kicked the ogre in the stomach with all his force, causing it to slip on the ice and land on its back. "Ice-Make Geyser!" Gray yelled as a massive spiky pillar shot out from beneath the ogre and stabbed into it but didn't go through much of it and lifted it high into the air. The ogre managed to lift itself off the tower effortlessly and shattered it all as if fell. As it landed, it created another great crater and blasted Gray into the air with no control over himself. Before he had a chance to do anything, the ogre seized the opportunity and shot a massive wall of acid at Gray which seemed unavoidable. "Game...over!" The ogre laughed again. "This isn't good," Gray thought to himself as he closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. Suddenly, Gray felt something put an arm around his back as he re-opened his eyes. He saw Rycu who was looking towards the acid with his left arm keeping a firm hold of him. He suddenly teleported them both out of the way so they were at a safe spot.

"Rycu!? What the hell are you doing here!?" Gray yelled in shock. "Saving your life," Rycu said sternly as he stared at the ogre. Gray was still in confusion and was even more shocked as Zamzu had caught up, "Zamzu!?" "Look at this abomination," I'm assuming this is the reason you rushed so quickly Rycu?" Zamzu asked. Rycu nodded his head as the aura around the demon seemed brightened. "Alright, can someone please tell me what the hell that thing is!?" Gray asked. Rycu stayed silent as he was thinking everything through while the ogre adjusted to the situation. "Rycu, must kill Rycu..." The ogre said as his eyes locked onto him. Rycu grinned, "Oh trust me, you're not the first person to want me dead. At this point, I've lost count." "How interesting, a creature such as this can speak?" Zamzu questioned. "Can we focus on killing this demon first," Gray moaned. "I...AM...NO...DEMON!" The ogre yelled in fury as the air began to push against everyone from all angles of it. Everyone raised an arm to protect themselves. "Looks like you managed to piss IT off," Rycu moaned. "I AM A DREG, A LIFE FORM MADE OF PURE DARKNESS. AN INVINCIBLE CREATURE THAT SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED! AND I NAME MYSELF VALUS! THE CREATURE WHO SHALL DESTROY THE LAND OF WHICH YOU LOVE!" Valus yelled furiously as he began to multiply in size, becoming visible to the entire city.

"You're kidding," Rycu thought as Valus kept growing before finally stopping as he was one hundred meters tall. "We need to take him out quickly before he manages to wreck the city! Some of the council should be on their way now to assist. This may be a tough battle," Zamzu explained as he looked up at Valus. Rycu clenched his fists as he floated in the air, "Looks like I'm gonna have to try and pull my weight with the state I'm in. If we give this our all, we may be able to stop him but it's gonna take more than the three of us it feels." "For a monster birthed from a weapon, his power is unfathomable," Zamzu said in awe. Valsu looked down on them all as he let out a roar of anger.

"I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL!"


	123. Fury, Fear and Faith

Rycu floated directly in front of Valus. Staring into his blood-shot, giant eyes that were double the size of Rycu each and all over his face except his mouth. They all glowed a purple colour with some white dots inside of them. The rest of his body was bare, it was all flabby skin that swung around like it had a life of its own and was trying to free itself. It's hands both had giant fingers that were at least five times the size of Rycu each and had massive claws at the end of them that looked like they could pierce through everything. The same was mostly for its toes but there was only three of them on each foot.

The weather had suddenly turned into even heavier snow which everyone could feel as it battered against their skin except Valus who seemed more overly hot than anything. Rycu was frustrated beyond belief. First he was attacked, next he's forced out of fighting, then he's forced to search up information from books and now there was a giant Dreg prepared to destroy everything. "This thing will be way stronger than Nomada without a single doubt. Dreg are supposedly born to be unstoppable so this can't be any good," Rycu thought as he flew up further into the sky so he was face-to-face with Valus. Valus stared at him in wonder, "Ah, Rycu...you are the great destruction of all life. The one who causes all chaos in his path. The one who steals lives from the many." "Pfft, lies, I've never murdered a single soul!" Rycu exclaimed while fully knowing that he has killed like when he killed Medusa.

Gray and Zamzu were still below, looking on in wonder, "I say we take this time to our advantage," Gray suggested as he placed a hand near the floor. Zamzu nodded his head, "We need all the chances we can get to bring him down, otherwise, all is lost." "Do we have any other reinforcements coming than your members?" Gray asked as he made the floor beneath Valus completely ice. "Yes we do. We have Sting, Rogue and Minerva from Sabretooth coming as well as Jura, Leon and Sherria coming from Lamia Scale. Only problem is that they won't make it on time to kill this Dreg but if we fail to protect the city, their combined help will be enough to finish this off," Zamzu explained. Gray's eyes suddenly lit up as he had an idea, "Well, Rycu has teleportation right? So he can teleport to the direction they're coming from and teleport them back here to fight!" "True, but we'll need him to still help out till our nearby reinforcements get here. Plus, since he's teleporting a long distance it'll drain a lot of his energy so for most of the battle we'll have to keep him away from Valus to avoid him getting majorly damaged again," Zamzu explained.

Rycu was still facing opposite of Valus but could overhear the conversation from below and shook his head, "I will fetch the other guilds. I just need a rough idea of their location then I'll find them and bring them here. Though I'm warning you. From what I understand now, numbers won't matter. All of our attacks will be nothing. It'll take large, perfect simultaneous attacks to even just hurt him." "Well simultaneous attacks doesn't sound too bad!" Gray yelled up to Rycu. "I understand him. A simultaneous attack would certainly damage him slightly but a perfectly simultaneous attack is devastating. Every single movement needs to be to complete perfection even just leading up to the point of the actual blow which on its own needs to be perfectly delivered at the same power between the two. It's a technique only a single pair of duo mages have ever truly mastered," Zamzu explained. "Just how deadly are we talking here?" Gray asked. "Well depending on the person's strength, it could wipe out a whole planet in a single attack. It sounds far-fetched yes...but it's been shown to be devastating long ago," Zamzu continued as he finally focused on Valus again.

Rycu had brought his attention back to Valus, "I'd turn back if I were you or just do whatever you need to, to go back to where you came from." "I...shall never… I cannot reverse my own creation… I was made to destroy...so that is what I will do. No breathing being alive shall stop me," Valus explained, still in his slow, deep voice. Rycu grinned as he clenched his fists and formed a flame around them both, "Guess we'll have to see about that!" Valus looked interested as his giant, clawed hand raised up, "This will just be an inhalation." Rycu decided to take advantage of his slow movement, blasting forward, straight into Valus's stomach. Though the attack didn't hurt Valus, it was enough force to push him back slightly, then causing him to slip on the ice and crash against the ground which on its own created a crater where he landed.

"Zamzu! What direction are the guilds!?" Rycu yelled. "Lamia Scale are North-East of Margaret Town currently and Sabertooth are South-East of Crocus," Zamzu explained as he jumped to the top of a tree where both his hands were surrounded by magic circles that were a golden colour. Rycu looked around as he saw Erza far behind him along with Wendy, Lucy, Gajeel and Juvia but no Natsu, "That was fast. Looks like I can take my leave." Rycu locked eyes with Erza as he teleported directly in front of her, "Where's Natsu?" Rycu asked as he slightly startled her. "Something in that, 'thing' has greatly hurt Natsu. Presumably some highly dangerous acid in its blood. He's swelling up a lot and has a high fever. There's not enough time now to handle him too. I left him with Makarov back at the guild. Also, the full city has been evacuated except Natsu and Makarov," Erza explained as she changed her armour into Flame Empress. Rycu nodded his head as he pointed directly at the demon, "Don't let Valus get the best of you. If you have to retreat then do it. I don't want to find you dead." Erza nodded her head as she leaped forward towards Valus as he slowly began to drag himself back up. Taking blows from everywhere but wasn't affected by any of them other than a slight grunt whenever Zamzu attacked. Valus still noticed Rycu as he was preparing to teleport a long distance, "Where are you going...coward." Rycu grinned as he turned around to face Valus as he fully stood up again and began to charge a giant beam to hit where Rycu stood. "I'm doing what I've been doing my whole life..." Rycu went more silent so nobody else could hear him but himself, "running." Valus fired the beam directly at Rycu which everyone was blasted away by but Rycu faced up at it and grinned as he teleported away, closer to Margaret Town.

The beam flew by with no resistance as it went straight through the ground for tens of meters before Valus stopped himself. Erza glanced at Gray who was just ahead of him and seemed rather weak from wasting a portion of his magic energy from before even though he didn't use that much. Erza looked around more and realised how everyone was already getting quite exhausted, "He's making our energy drain quicker! Explain Valus!" Valus chuckled to himself as Gajeel stepped forward, "Alright you big freak! What's your game here?" "I...am here to destroy. Nothing more. It is my only purpose. I cursed you all without you even noticing to make you weaker...nothing more than a tiny fly!" Valus laughed to himself as everyone had stopped. "This is insanity..." Lucy whispered to herself as she backed away slightly in fear. "Rycu's gone for two seconds and we're already starting to lose it!" Gray yelled in frustration as he stepped back slightly. Valus chuckled slowly again as he began to walk forward towards the town centre of the village, "You puny wizards are too reliable on such a weakling to keep you all together." Wendy looked at the city which seemed so vulnerable, "This is virtually impossible. Nothing is effecting him at all. It's as if he can't even feel pain. Also it doesn't help how he can cause so much damage effortlessly. He's undoubtedly stronger than anything we've faced before. Medusa was something but this is even further beyond Nomada. Furthermore, this thing can heal its limbs, though that should take away a huge portion of his energy but who knows how limitless that could be," Wendy thought as she dived towards Valus head-on.

"Oh, a puny girl now challenges me?" Valus laughed once again. Wendy got close to Valus and yelled, "Sky dragon roar!" A massive gust of wind shot from Wendy's mouth and blew against Valus but it still did nothing. Valus walked through it like it was nothing and abruptly smacked Wendy to the side with his giant hand, causing her to crash into the floor and slide across. "Wendy!" Everyone yelled as Lucy began to rush over to Wendy. Erza began to leap forward as she was in anger, "Alright Valus! You're going down!" Valus once again chuckled, "Remember what your friend said? Only simultaneous attacks can even make me feel any form of pain!" "I DON'T CARE!" Erza yelled as she leaped up while at the same time switching to her light magic armour and pulled her glowing sword out which radiated a great beam that was slightly blinding from all the energy withheld inside of it. Gray began to rush forward as he realised what she was doing, "Erza stop! Blindly attacking won't help!" Erza completely blocked out other voices as she was within ten meters of Valus and raised her sword around where his shoulder was. She struck down with all her force at once as her blade cut straight into the skin and stopped as it hit the bone. Valus instinctively whacked Erza with his right arm which hit her towards Gray who managed to catch her. Erza's vision had become hazy from that one blow as Gray had an arm around her and was running out of Valus' sight.

"Erza! Don't do that again will ya? You could get yourself killed if you're not careful!" Gray said in frustration through his gritted teeth. Erza briefly looked confused as she glanced at her left arm and saw how bruised it looked with blood flowing down it, "I-I'm sorry...I was irrational..." "Just stay here for now. Rycu shouldn't take long so when he's back he'll aid you," Gray explained. Erza nodded her head as Gray rushed off but she then rushed off towards Wendy anyway while hiding more in the trees to keep out of Valus' sight. Valus now had his eyes set on Lucy as the wound where Erza had cut completely healed. "No you don't!" Gray yelled as he saw Valus raise his fist again. He brought the fist down towards Lucy but all its momentum was stopped as a giant hand made of ice launched from the ground and caught it. "Thanks Gray!" Lucy yelled as she made it to Wendy who was knocked out completely from that one blow, "I say its time to get you out of here." Lucy picked up Wendy and flung her round her shoulder before moving behind a giant pile of stone and dirt for cover.

"Hey you oversized freak!" Gajeel yelled as Valus turned to face him before being smashed in one of his eyes by Gajeel's iron club. The eye burst open like a sack of jelly as Valus' acid blood flooded out of it and he let out a roar of anguish. "YOU WRETCHES! NOW YOU'LL SUFFER!" Valus yelled as the floor around everyone began to glow a dark colour. Amongst the black there were individual circles of white forming. Everyone looked in confusion and braced with Erza requipping to her Robe of Yuen and still running forth while avoiding the white marks on the ground. Juvia hadn't done much during this and was too busy admiring Gray until now where she realised the danger and finally decided to take action, "The attacks are coming from below so a simple shield won't work." She leaped on top of a high pillar which faced Valus as she began to think on the spot, flooding all of the floor with water half a meter deep. At this point, Erza was too far out of range of the water while Lucy had moved herself and Wendy onto something higher as she realised what may happen. "Gray! I have a plan!" Juvia yelled as she seemed proud of herself. "Spit it out then!" Gray yelled as he leaped out of the water. "Freeze the water!" Juvia yelled again as she seemed joyful. Gray had no hesitation and immediately placed his hand by the water and froze it all around so it was completely solid.

All of a sudden, there was a loud echoing noises that sounded like a laser beam. Everyone looked around in confusion as they stood in safe areas other than Erza who was still dodging the white dots marked on the floor near her. The ice suddenly cracked all around as it all shattered and hundreds of magnificent beams of light shot up from the floor into the sky. Erza could feel the giant rising energy and swiftly managed to dodge out of the path of the beams to keep running towards Lucy who was still far away. Juvia was jaw-dropped as she saw all the ice chunks begin to rain down on them, "No way! There's so many of them! The ice practically did nothing!" Valus let out an evil laugh as the beams continued to appear and reappear in different locations, "YOU SEE NOW WHAT YOU ARE UP AGAINST!?"

Meanwhile, Rycu had teleported to around Margaret Town where he was searching for Jura, Leon and Sherria. "I haven't got much time," Rycu thought as he weaved in and out of trees while flying around to see if he could spot them while he was yelling, "Jura! Sherria! Leon! Where are you!?" Rycu stopped himself as he closed his eyes and concentrated on his hearing as he placed his hand against the floor and sniffed. His eyes widely opened as he pin-pointed some movement from many miles away. With no hesitation he leaped to the east of where he stood and made fire blast out of his feet to make his go faster. After a short while, some people finally came into view as Rycu stopped blasting fire out of his feet, "Hey!" Rycu yelled as he was running forward with lots of momentum. He saw as three faces turned to face him which he immediately recognised as Jura, Leon and Sherria, "Rycu!" Jura exclaimed as he stepped forth. Rycu was trying to stop himself but he had too much momentum. Sherria quickly moved out of the way as she realised what would happen next while Jura and Leon expected him to stop. Rycu crashed into the two of them causing all three to fall to the floor as Sherria looked on with a sigh.

"Good to see you're full of life again," Jura chuckled as he pushed himself up. "Yeah, from what we were hearing you hadn't been having a good streak up to this point. It's not impossible to tell from your current look anyway," Leon sighed in relief. "Lets just say the past day or two has been rough for me," Rycu sighed as he scratched the back of his head with his right arm. "Yes, we heard about that attack that happened just last night. Having this demon conundrum too isn't much help for us," Jura sighed. "It's not a demon. It's something called a Dreg," Rycu corrected. "How interesting, once it's dealt with we could put forth some research," Leon suggested. "Hey! You're forgetting I'm here!" Sherria yelled at Rycu in frustration. "Ah, sorry. Got my head wrapped around too much with this threat that calls itself Valus," Rycu nervously said. Sherria leaped off of the floor and latched her legs and arms around Rycu's neck and body to hug him tightly, "It's been quite a while since I last saw you yknow. You gotta come visit us again!" "I promise I will, its always a nice atmosphere in Margaret Town," Rycu grinned as he picked Sherria up and placed her back on the floor. "I say its about time we handle this threat," Jura stated as he grabbed onto Rycu along with Leon and Sherria. "As soon as we get there, Jura and Leon you go help out. I'll take Sherria up with me to Crocus to find the Sabertooth team. Everyone nodded their heads as Rycu teleported to the outskirts of the battle area to avoid immediate danger, "Seems like things have escalated." Without uttering a single word, Leon and Jura launched off with a slight grin on their faces as Rycu teleported away again, this time to Crocus.

There was silence. Rycu looked around and saw they were still perfectly fine though he was starting to feel tired from teleporting such long distances. "That was so cool!" Sherria exclaimed as she looked around a bit with Rycu just behind her. "Alright, we need to see if we can find Sting, Rogue and Minerva. I teleported us fairly away from Crocus since I think they're most likely quite far away from it by now," Rycu explained. "Don't you have an Exceed that could fly me up into the air to scout the area?" Sherria asked. "Unfortunately no, I haven't found an Exceed really yet. I may never find one," Rycu sighed as he lit his fists with fire and held them together. "What are you doing?" Sherria asked as she backed away slightly. "Making a signal!" Rycu yelled as he smashed his fists to the ground and created a huge vertical blast of fire that stretched all the way up to the clouds. The flames burned so bright that it was slightly blinding so it was impossible to miss. Sherria looked in awe at the flames, "That's so amazing!" Rycu couldn't help but grin as he heard the rushing steps come towards them, "Lector! Frosch! Sting! Rogue! Minerva! Over here!"

Within seconds he could clearly see them all running with a massive grin on Sting's face and smirk both from Minerva and Rogue. "Rycu!" Sting yelled as his arm wrapped around Rycu's neck and rested on his shoulder. "Glad to see you're here," Rogue smiled as Frosch was resting on his shoulder. "Seems you survived your encounter with Nomada then. I've been hearing countless things about that day and how you saved everyone," Minerva chuckled as she folded her arms. "Yeah, it wasn't an easy battle to say the least. But anyway, our eyes now are on Valus. If we don't stop him somehow then he'll kill all the innocent and completely destroy all the cities," Rycu explained. "I'm sure we'll be fine. It's not like I'm gonna let anything happen because I want to face off against you in the Grand Magic Games! I had my bout with Natsu but I wanna see how strong you've become! It's been a while since I last saw you in action anyway. Too long in fact! After the Grand Magic games we could always make space for you to stay!" Sting exclaimed in joy. "I don't see why not," Rycu grinned as he held out his hand to Sherria before he would teleport them. "Long time no see Sherria," Minerva chuckled as she patted her on the head. Sherria nodded her head, "We'll get to see each other at the Grand Magic games too!" "Didn't know you lot often associated with each other," Rycu grinned. "A lot has changed from before. I didn't even know you associated with Lamia Scale yourself," Rogue chuckled as he grabbed onto Rycu as well as Minerva. "Well I used to travel a lot yknow, I've met countless other guilds. A lot has changed since then though. Anyway, I say we go handle this beast at last," Rycu grinned as he was surrounded by a slight white aura and they all vanished from the very point they stood.

Meanwhile, the fight with Valus continued with Jura and Leon appearing as sudden reinforcements. "Gray!" Leon yelled as he appeared on top of a rock alongside Jura. "Ah, Rycu is doing his job then," Zamzu chuckled aloud. "Speaking of reinforcements, where's all your council wizards?!" Lucy yelled in panic as she still had the unconscious Wendy laying across her lap. "I redirected them to evacuate and protect citizens. None of them are coming here!" Zamzu yelled over the chaos. "But don't we need them!? They're more powerful than most of us!" Gajeel interrupted as he stood above. "We don't need them, with them, there'd be less space for all of us to work with and we'd get in each other's way. Plus, it's not just strength that matters here. Even with my wizards nothing would change. We need perfectly synchronised attacks to show any real effect against Valus. Our only other option is one giant attack that could kill him but as of now I don't know anything that would come close to killing him," Zamzu explained. "Nothing promising then," Lucy sighed as she realised she was practically trapped there.

Large chunks of ice were still falling so Erza decided to use it to her advantage. She spotted two chunks falling side-by-side and leaped towards the lowest one which she used to leap to the higher one as she yelled, "Gray! Platform!" Gray's eyes locked onto her after diverting his attention from Jura and Leon who were charging forward while avoiding the beams, "One at a time people!" Gray yelled as he formed a platform under where Erza would land and continued to make platforms as she continued forward. "Coming for me again? How foolish of you!" Valus yelled in laughter as hundreds of light beams appeared, all facing towards Erza from multiple angles but she wasn't afraid one bit. "Switch to your Adamantine Armour! Those blasts will kill you otherwise!" Gray yelled in panic. Erza simply had a grin on her face as she leaped forward and spiralled as the beams all shot, missing Erza by no more than a few centimetres each. As she got through the narrow gap, she then quickly changed into her Black Wing Armour and flew in front of Valus with her sword drawn and yelled, "Moon Flash!" Within an instant, Erza slashed Valus' face with two strong blows and flew behind him with her sword drizzled with some green blood. She glanced at her sword as it corroded away in her hands but her hands were fortunately protected by the gauntlets of her armour.

Valus roared in pain once again as Erza had sliced open two of his eyes. "If I focus on the eyes. I can make him blind which will make it harder for him to attack us," Erza thought as she was stuck in her thoughts and wasn't aware of her surroundings. "ERZA!" Lucy yelled from around a corner." Erza was confused for a second as she looked down to the floor and saw a giant white circle glowing brightly on the floor. She had no time to try and dodge before she was suddenly blasted by the great beam of light with her in the direct centre of it. She let out a great scream of agony as her armour immediately shattered and her skin was in immense pressure and irritation. Valus let out a great laugh of delight as he saw Erza in pain with her shattered armour that was barely hanging on before fully exposing her bare skin to the power. "Now you can stop being a nuisance to me!" Valus yelled as he smacked Erza with his might, causing her to blast into the floor with her body smashing through it for at least one hundred meters and creating a massive crater of where her body hit.

Everyone looked on in horror as they saw Erza's body lay there, twitching ever so slightly but with no real movement. "ERZA!" Everyone simultaneously yelled in horror. "Now then. Who wants to go next!" Valus laughed again. There was a long silence as everyone was speechless. Everyone looked at one another while slightly moving away. Lucy was still hidden and curled up even tighter into a ball as she grasped onto Wendy and had tears of fear running down her face just thinking about Erza alone, "Rycu...please...get here soon."

"Who will be your saviour now!? Who have you got to run away to in fear? As a coward! None of you can hold a candle to my strength! I...AM...VALUS. AND NO SOUL SHALL BE SPARED FROM MY WRATH!" Valus continued to yell as everyone became even more fearful. "I don't understand. How could he be so strong," Zamzu thought to himself as he stopped charging his spell. Gray glanced at Erza as he thought to himself, "If he could do that so simply...what could he do to the rest of us? Erza is one of our strongest too!" Juvia could hardly move herself she was so frightened along with Gajeel who was trying his best to look calm but deep down he was petrified himself. So much so he couldn't even bring himself to transform, "Salamander...now would be a good time for you to be here. I hate you but...you always seem fearless even in the face of death." "HAHAHAHA! LOOK AT HOW PITIFUL YOU ALL LOOK! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOURSELVES NOW SO SAY YOUR LAST PRAYERS!" Valus yelled as he stomped forward. Everyone took a deep breath as they prepared for the worst.

It was complete silence other than the stomping of Valus's feet but amid it all...there was a sudden roar of anger, "VVVVVVAAAAAAAALLLLLLLUUUUUUSSSSSS!" Everyone's eyes immediately darted over to the source of the voice where they saw Rycu, who seemed completely furious. He had Sherria to his right with Minerva right behind her along with Sting to Rycu's left who had Rogue behind him. Rycu saw many relieved and joyful faces as he took a slow step forward, cracking the ground beneath. Lucy let out a sigh of relief as her tears slowed; Gajeel relaxed more as he regained complete composure; Juvia seemed joyful again; Gray relaxed more also while he stopped shaking. Valus seemed more irritated as he fully turned toward Rycu, "What have we here?"

Rycu took a deep breath as he lit a flame in his hand, "The man who's going to kill you."


	124. Uncontrolled

Rycu continued to slowly walk forwards as he saw Erza's body ahead of him. Everyone could tell he was furious. His eyes were rolled, his fists clenched, his breathing slow but steady and his great burst of energy. Gajeel himself couldn't help but pull a grin as he sensed the great energy, "Now you've gone and fucked up!" Valus seemed confused as he took a step towards Rycu, "What does that girl even mean to you? She's a pathetic weakling!" Rycu gritted his teeth as he stood just behind Erza's unconscious body, looking down on it. She was incredibly bruised all round with most of her armour shattered, all its pieces were scattered across the floor. Her breathing was hardly noticeable as she was also bleeding from the top right of her forehead and from her left arm and stomach. Sting, Rogue, Sherria and Minerva were all stood far behind Rycu as they waited for him to break the silence. "You think he's pissed?" Sting muttered. Rogue nodded his head, "I think we're going to see a large portion of his power that we both haven't had a chance to see yet." Rycu slid both his arms under Erza and lifted her up, holding her so she was spread longways across both his arms. Rycu looked at her lifeless face with blood flowing down it, "I swear for what he has done to you...I'll do millions of times worse to him."

"WELL? WHAT DOES SHE MEAN TO YOU!?" Valus yelled in fury as Rycu slowly laid her body back down. Rycu's eyes darted back to Valus as he took a deep breath, "Erza's my sister. My family. And for you to nearly kill her is a great mistake that you'll never live to regret. She's one of the last things I have left so I can't lose her. No matter what, I'll protect her. Protect her from YOU. She's the reason I still have faith, she's the reason I still stand here now! SHE'S ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS I CAN LIVE FOR! YOU, CAN NEVER IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS IMAGINE WHAT YOU'VE DONE! MY WRATH TODAY SHALL SERVE JUSTICE! JUSTICE, TO PROTECT THE ONES THAT I LOVE!" Rycu's complete body engulfed in flames, "These people are why I stand here today. And no God forsaken demon is gonna stop me from protecting what I have left! If they sacrifice themselves for me then I could never live with the feeling that I could have done more! THAT'S WHY I'M GOING TO STOP YOU MYSELF! THAT'S WHY THIS IS YOUR ENDING!"

Rycu blasted forward towards Valus and in the blink of an eye, Rycu had crashed head-first into the side of Valus' head, avoiding all his eyes. Valus was nudged back slightly. "He moved him!" Gray yelled in complete shock as he heard the crash of Valus' feet as they moved back. Everyone suddenly leaped into action including Sting, Rogue, Sherria and Minerva as they took advantage of the opportunity to help out everyone. Sherria had spotted Wendy and immediately scrambled over to Lucy, "What happened?" Sherria said in worry. Lucy seemed down as she loosened her grip on Wendy, "She was hit by Valus. A single hit knocked her out cold." Sherria looked on in worry, "I can handle her for now. Don't worry too much, she's in a stable condition." Lucy let out a sigh of relief as she curled up tightly for warmth, "Thank you." Sherria had a large smile on her face, "I'm just helping, cause that's what friends do!" Lucy couldn't help but pull a slight smile as she slowly nodded her head.

Rycu backed away from Valus after he had clashed against him, completely overtaken by his own anger. "It seems you're really angry doesn't it? Who knew the likes of you would actually feel emotion for someone," Valus chuckled as he stomped towards Rycu. "Shut up!" Rycu yelled as both his hands became iron clubs, wrapped in a layer of fire. They both launched towards Valus and smashed into both of his eyes which caused him to roar in pain. As Valus roared there was a sudden great explosion of fire at the tips of both of Rycu's iron clubs that were directly by Valus. Valus roared again as the point blank explosion blasted him further back though not far. His face had a giant mark of black in the centre of it though it quickly faded away. "That all you got!" Rycu taunted as he launched himself directly at Valus again while he thought to himself, "I need to re-enter my Dragon Force to finish him off it feels but Zamzu would be able to detect that dark energy flowing within me, not even that, he would be able to see the energy pulsating around me." Rycu was suddenly smashed downwards as he was hit by Valus' fist while he was distracted. Rycu was on his hands and knees from that one blow, it felt like there was a constant force pushing down on him as there was a constant stinging pain. Rycu slowly managed to push himself up again as he glowed white and black and his energy increased.

Nobody tried to directly attack up close, fearing of what could happen if they got into Rycu's way while he was this furious. Meanwhile, Minerva had rushed up to Erza's body, "You poor thing. You're so deeply injured," she thought as she picked her up and moved her far, far away from the chaos before she rushed back to the battle herself. Rogue had jumped up alongside Gajeel but stayed silent as he was too concentrated on Rycu. Finally, Sting had made his way up to the highest possible point they had as he carefully observed everything that was happening, "Rycu's really something ain't he. But even so, he's being pushed back by Valus considerably."

Rycu was not holding back in the slightest without activating his dragon force, dodging and weaving with not a single second break. Hardly anyone was able to keep up with him but even so, Valus kept finding a way to block the attack, as if he was predicting his movements. Valus ignored Rycu for a moment as he looked at everyone running around, hesitant to attack him, "Well if you're all too scared to face me yourself, why not have my minions occupy you!" Rycu stopped himself as he felt the ground beneath shake, "Minions?" All of a sudden, the ground beneath Rycu cracked open and a purple light shone through. Hundreds of creatures began to climb out of the ground, all looking deformed in their own unique way and covered in some strange, ooze looking substance. Rycu felt something grab him by his ankle while also feeling some sort of hot, thick liquid. He turned and looked to see a creature half out of the ground grabbing onto him as it's liquid spread onto Rycu. Before he could react, he felt another creature grab onto his other leg before he was tackled by another and pinned to the floor as tens of others piled on top, all beating at him with their deformed claws. Everyone had briefly backed away to handle the rising creatures but Gajeel had saw Rycu under attack and leaped forward with Rogue to help.

"Out the way you...things!" Gajeel yelled as his iron club launched forward, knocking many of the creatures flying all at once as they crashed into one another. Rogue turned himself into a shadow and manoeuvred himself through the floor into a massive congregation of the enemy and blasted out in the centre of it all, knocking dozens of them flying in all directions as he looked down at the rest beneath him and yelling, "Shadow Dragon's Roar!" A large burst of shadows shot from Rogue's mouth in a long cylinder shape as it crashed against the ground and blasted all the enemies in its vicinity away. Gajeel rushed past the waterfall of falling creatures as he was near Rycu at last. He could sense another rise in power from him though as he halted himself. Not just Gajeel, everyone could sense it including Valus as they all turned to the gigantic pile of creatures that were on top of Rycu. "I have a bad feeling about this," Gray thought as he created a giant pillar of ice beneath him.

There was a sudden huge blast of wind as all the creatures on top of Rycu were blasted away by a great barrier of wind. All of them flew into different areas and obstructed one another. "It's raining monsters!" Sting exclaimed in joy as he leaped from the top of the mountain where he grabbed one of the falling creatures and kicked it far downwards. He kept leaping from one to another, effortlessly killing them all till the rest hit the floor. As he fell, he spotted another large congregation of monsters forming around Rogue and Gajeel who were barely managing to defend themselves, "Rogue!" Sting yelled as he held both his arms out. "Gajeel jump!" Rogue yelled as Sting got closer. Gajeel didn't hesitate and leaped high into the air as Sting and Rogue connected hands. "Twin dragon slayer's infinite spiral!" The two of them simultaneously yelled as Rogue spun Sting around as fast as he could as Sting shot a large beam of energy from his feet. The beam constantly went around, instantly slaughtering all in its path till the entire area was clear and Rogue flung Sting towards Rycu. "Rycu!" Sting yelled as he got closer. Rycu stuck his arm out as he caught Sting by his shirt and stopped all his momentum, "Aww come on you was supposed to follow up!" Sting moaned as he was let down. "No, Valus is all mine, I want you to help protect the others for now. Only take over if necessary," Rycu explained sternly. "Ugh fine," Sting moaned as he leaped away again to help out.

Valus found himself once again staring down at Rycu, "Alright you vermin, when will you give up at last? Or will I have to instead dispose of you?" Rycu's flames around him glowed brighter and were larger as he stepped forward, "From here on I'm not holding back any more of my base power. This is where I finally get to put a stop to you." "You hold too much faith in your strength, you cannot see that you're outmatched. You...are the real monster of the two of us here," Valus bellowed. Rycu was in shock for a moment as he thought through those words, he completely lost track of everything around him and his flames died down. Everything flooded through his memory at once, Medusa, Zeref…August...Acnologia… Everything in his mind flipped though as his attention was drawn away, he was smashed upwards by a rock that Valus had raised by stomping on the ground. Rycu saw Valus' great fist coming as he instinctively propelled himself upwards by a massive bust of wind as he straightened himself out and pulled all his thoughts together.

"No...I am no monster Valus. But...I'm not a hero either," Rycu muttered as his hands lit with bright flames, "I...am a fool… A fool, that goes around just trying to help out. A fool, that cares for his own and reaches for the stars! A FOOL THAT'S GOING TO STOP A DREG LIKE YOU FROM TAKING AWAY WHAT I HAVE LEFT! I may not have much left to live for Valus...BUT I STILL HAVE THEM!" Rycu blasted forward and crashed against Valus' stomach with his two fists but was immediately stopped no matter how hard he pushed. There was a great explosion from Rycu's hands that created a gigantic sphere of all his elements combined at point-blank range. Valus' feet slid back as he seemed affected by the attack and bled from his mouth which corroded the floor of where it landed. Rycu didn't wait and blasted forwards again as he locked onto Valus' head. He held his right hand out as a golden sphere of energy launched out of it and shot directly into one of Valus' eyes, bursting it open and bouncing straight back to Rycu who caught it again with enough force that he spiralled around slightly but corrected himself. Rycu again threw the sphere at another eye which burst it as fire blasted out his feet. Valus let out great roars of pain as his eyes popped. Rycu flew around Valus so fast that he couldn't be seen, weaving around his entire body while simultaneously popping an eye every circulation with his bare hands which got them covered slightly in the acid. Valus stumbled around as he was losing vision rapidly and swung his arms around to try and swipe Rycu out of the air. Every single last eye was popped as Rycu teleported himself behind Valus and shot a blinding beam of energy from his hand which had enough force to push Valus forward again as his acidic blood still flowed down from their sockets.

"He's too close to the city, one giant blast should do the trick," Rycu thought to himself as he held his hands close together and a golden sphere of energy began to form between them that shone brightly, shooting out light in all directions it could. Valus turned around to where he felt the blast of energy, "RYCU YOU FOOL! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Rycu grinned as the ball of energy between his hands fully materialised and kept getting stronger as it filled with more and more energy, "I'm putting an end to this!" Rycu yelled as he prepared to launch the attack, "TWISTED DRAGON'S EYE!" A gargantuan beam of energy released from Rycu's hands directly towards Valus which hit him and slowly began to push him back. Everyone was distracted as they saw the great beam of energy, tens of meters both wide and tall. "Woah! That's amazing!" Sting yelled in awe as he kicked another creature away blindly. Rogue himself seemed impressed as he and Gajeel, who were back-to-back, turned their heads to see. Valus didn't even make a wimpering noise as he was slowly being pushed back. "Don't underestimate the power of a Dragon Slayer! Especially not me!" Rycu yelled as the beam still flooded out. Valus chuckled. Rycu's eyes opened wider in shock as did everyone else's. "You think this is strong? This is absolutely nothing to me! Like I said, your measly energy can't scratch my true strength!" Valus yelled as all his eyes began to regenerate one at a time but at a rapid rate as he began walking through Rycu's beam of energy. Rycu's beam became weaker as he stopped shooting the energy from his hands in pure shock, "Th-this is impossible! How can he treat this as nothing? This is the strongest attack I have and it's NOTHING!?" "You truly believe you can beat me now? You were so confident but look at you now! So frail and fearful. All these people had faith in you and you failed them. They wanted to help but you reject them just for your own satisfaction! So! Tell me now Rycu! WHO'S THE REAL MONSTER HERE?!" Valus bellowed as he raised a hand high into the air. Rycu was too in shock to react as he became lost in thought again and he looked at his hands, imagining Medusa's blood on them."

Rycu was suddenly blasted upwards as he was hit by a giant beam of energy from beneath which he was caught in the centre of like Erza was. Rycu didn't even yell in pain. He was motionless. Rycu was then suddenly smashed by Valus' fist as he was hit all the way down from the cliff they were on, towards the city. Rycu's body crashed against the stone floor and kept blasting on for over a hundred meters more as all the stone he slid into was launched upwards along with all the dirt. His body so very slowly came to a halt through the resistance of the ground. Rycu's body lied there, briefly unconscious as there were yells from above.

As Rycu laid there, there were steps. Steps that were heading towards Rycu. The figure looked down at him as they let out a sigh and went down onto one knee. "You poor thing, you don't know how much worse things are going to get for you do you? Here you are shattered. Pull all your pieces back together, I _need_ you," the figure said as they stroked Rycu's cheek with the back of their hand as they elevated his head slightly. It was dead silence around them but the chaos above could be heard, "You have a fight to win my love. Now pull yourself together and take down that beast at last," they said as they kissed Rycu directly on his lips before laying him down again. They glanced once more at Rycu as they walked away.

A few minutes later, Rycu finally awoke. His eyes slowly reopening and his breathing getting faster again. He could feel his face against the freezing surface before he lifted his head up. He stared down the stone path ahead of him and it was intact, unlike everything behind which Rycu had destroyed in his path. He slowly pulled himself up as he saw the guild hall all the way down the path, at the least fifty meters away. He began to think to himself, "I...lost… Valus was right all along, I am just a monster. All I do is cause destruction in my path and get the innocent killed. Is this really who I am?" Rycu looked at his hands as he continued down the snowy path while occasionally stumbling and barely keeping his balance. "I have let down everyone...I was supposed to protect them yet look at me now. Broken." Rycu began to break. "This isn't who I wanted to be. This isn't who I should be! I've just been doing everything in reverse. How much more of a failure can I become!? How many more people can I let down or get killed?! How many more battles will I lose because of my selfishness!?" Rycu had a few tears running down his face as he still dragged himself onwards. "I...it's my fault for what happens now. Everything all stems from me..." Rycu was five meters from the guild, "I can't be like this. I need to grow stronger, I need to change.." Rycu took a deep breath as he raised his foot, "All the responsibility comes down to me." Rycu kicked the guild doors open as he quickly wiped away his tears and walked to the infirmary.

He saw Natsu laying there, barely conscious, as Makarov was by his side. "Rycu!" Makarov exclaimed in shock as he stood up. Rycu glanced at Natsu who was laying there, mostly bandaged up and hardly able to move, "R-ycu," he barely managed to say. "What happened to you? Why are you here now?" Makarov asked. "I burned up most of my energy against Valus and he hit me with one blow that immediately destroyed me to how I am now. I used my most powerful attack against him but even then he took it as nothing," Rycu sighed as he stumbled towards Natsu. "Well how are the others?" Makarov asked. Rycu looked down towards the floor, "Everyone is exhausted. Their energy is being burned up rapidly. Though nobody is severely harmed...well...except for Erza. She's knocked out cold." Natsu tried to pull himself up as he heard that but immediately fell down again against the bed as his body couldn't handle it. "Rest Natsu, you need it. The poison is still in large affect," Makarov explained as he pushed Natsu down slightly. Rycu stumbled to the window as he looked up at Valus who was now under attack by everyone else.

"Why aren't you still up there fighting? It isn't like you to just give up." Makarov asked as he turned around. Rycu took another deep breath, "I can't go on like this. I thought I was at the peak of my strength but this proves I'm not...I'll never be satisfied till I know I can protect those I care for...like Erza..." "Rycu, it's not just your pure strength that can solve a problem. I understand you put yourself in front of others but there's a greater picture in this. Your friends, your knowledge. They are both things that you can use to get through this," Makarov explained. "But I'm not gonna put other lives on the front lines with me, I don't wanna live knowing that their blood is across my hands too," Rycu sighed as he turned away from the window. "We do not stand at our best on our own. Together, united, we can stand strong and face whatever comes our way. We don't die for our friends. We live for them," Makarov explained as he began walking to the infirmary doors, "I can help handle this myself. "No!" Rycu yelled as Makarov stopped and glanced behind. "We already have plenty out there. Knowing you, you'd try to sacrifice yourself regardless of what you say to me. I can, I WILL go back there myself and I'm going to end this at last. You stay here and look after Natsu. You know what he'd do if you left him alone," Rycu explained as he walked past Makarov and glanced back as Makarov sat back down next to Natsu with a grin on his face. "Thanks old man," Rycu whispered as he rushed out the guild doors to the great open streets as he saw Valus standing there as he was walking towards something. "Everything's clear in my head now. I know what I must do, I know how this has to end!" Rycu yelled as he blasted towards Valus with his fists coated in iron and wrapped with fire.

Meanwhile, the chaos continued straight after Rycu had fallen. "Rycu!" Everyone yelled in panic as they saw his body fall like a rock. "Not good!" Sting yelled as he dived through a chunk of monsters and looked over the cliff edge where he saw Rycu's body crash. "Do we go help him?!" Rogue yelled as he broke free of a crowd of monsters. "We can't! We need to focus our efforts onto Valus for now. Rycu can get back here on his own if he's still conscious!" Sting explained as he leaped up high to avoid all the creatures below. Gray leaped high up too along with Gajeel to buy them some time as Rogue kept ploughing through the endless hoards. "I say we split us up into two groups. One group attacking Valus and the other attacking the hoard!" Gray suggested. Sting nodded his head realising how much pressure they were under, "Alright! Me, Rogue, Gray and Zamzu can attack Valus! Jura, Minerva and Leon! You lot take care of this hoard!" Everyone stared at Sting before they leaped into position.

Zamzu, Gray, Sting and Rogue moved into position, each one spaced out around Valus. Minerva, Jura and Leon spread themselves out too, attracting the hoards attention to give the other group some space. "You truly think this will work?" Valus laughed as he stomped forwards. "We do! And it will!" Gray yelled as he turned the floor beneath Valus to ice but it instantly shattered due to the pressure of Valus' weight. "That's strange. The ice didn't break last time I did that," Gray thought to himself. Zamzu stayed quiet as he focused on the battle. He'd hardly used up any energy to try and preserve it all after he noticed his attacks weren't having much of an effect anyway, "Seeing Rycu fall like that is quite unsettling. I'm stronger than him but even so, to see someone like him fall is a little unsettling." Sting was so full of energy that he could hardly contain himself but he was still set on bringing Valus down no matter what, "As long as we stay coordinated we stand a chance here!" Everyone else nodded their head.

Both Sting and Rogue leaped high into the air as Gray created ice platforms beneath them both and Zamzu was charging an attack. "So there's four of you to handle, guess I must use more of my power," Valus bellowed as the ground beneath became purely black and smokey. Sting leaped to the side while he was in the air while Rogue leaped to the opposite side. The two of them both shot out roars of their energy into Valus simultaneously which collided and caused a great explosion that pushed Valus back ever so slightly. "Alright you brats, time to feel my power!" Valus roared as two giant vines launched from the ground and wrapped around both Sting and Rogue. Gray looked to the floor as he saw both his feet wrapped in vines as they slowly moved up his body. "They're made of pure dark energy! Break out of them as fast as you can!" Zamzu exclaimed as he leaped high up onto another cliff edge before the vines managed to grasp onto him. He was still charging his giant attack from before as he continued to focus his energy into his hands alone which were both surrounded by a magic circle each.

"Break out?" Rogue thought to himself as he quickly turned himself into a shadow and dashed down the vine before returning to his normal self at the bottom and rushing to help Gray as he dodged other vines that blasted out of the grounds. Sting struggled as the vine was dragging him closer to Valus, "This thing is tough!" Valus grinned as he raised his giant fist. Sting suddenly burst out of the vine as as field of energy came off of him and shredded the vine. While he was in the air, he yelled, "White Dragon's Roar!" A beam of energy shot from his mouth and blasted straight into Valus' face, popping some more eyes that instantly healed. Gray saw Rogue running towards him, "Get to high ground!" Gray created two ice blades on both his forearms as he forced his arms out, cutting through the vines as he leaped to higher ground. Rogue leaped up higher as well as Sting who redirected himself mid-air.

"Zamzu! Now!" Sting yelled. Zamzu nodded his head as he stopped charging his energy and held both his hands forward together which created a gargantuan, golden magic circle in front of him. "Oh merciful Gods! Purge the evil that stands today! Godly Radiant Omega Blast!" Zamzu yelled as a tiny, hardly visible beam of light shot through Valus. There was silence for a moment as Zamzu lowered his hands. There was a sudden explosion of light from inside Valus as hundreds of parts of his body suddenly tore open and a great light from within him could be seen. All of Valus suddenly blasted into hundreds of pieces that scattered all around as his blood fell like a waterfall. Everyone quickly shielded themselves as they were in shock. "THAT ONE ATTACK DID IT!?" Gray yelled in shock as he shielded himself with ice. Everyone was in awe as they didn't know what to do though Valus' minions were still flooding out. Zamzu looked on not looking pleased at all as he felt the ground shake, "Brace yourselves!"

Suddenly, all of Valus's parts that had exploded away were floating towards each other on their own. Everyone else's jaws dropped even further as they realised what was happening, "HE'S REFORMING HIMSELF!?" Sting yelled in shock as he stepped back nervously. Everyone heard a crackling laugh as Valus was nearly completely reformed already but looked different. He was even taller than before but had a smaller head and plenty less eyes along with sharper, shorter claws. "You think killing me once is good enough? We Dreg live more than once! We have two lives! Once we die we reform slightly different than before and have another chance! After our second life is when we truly die!" Valus crackled. "W-well we'll just kill you again!" Rogue stuttered as he stomped one foot forwards. "I don't think so," Valus quietly laughed as he stomped towards Zamzu, "I see who is the real threat now." Zamzu looked to the floor as he noticed a giant beam beneath him, he quickly managed to dodge out of the way as it blasted, narrowly missing him. Sting, Rogue and Gray began to assault Valus with all they had. Flinging their spells in a chain as fast they can to try and slow Valus but it wasn't working. "We're not even having an effect any more!" Gray yelled as he stopped attacking, realising it was completely useless now. "Zamzu run!" Sting yelled as he tried to leap on top of Valus but was immediately knocked backwards by a wave of energy that he couldn't even see.

Zamzu didn't move an inch as he stared up at the beast, "Resurrection. Quite the trick." "It felt strange, the taste of death, I wish you could tell me how it tastes for you but unfortunately you can't come back and tell me," Valus bellowed. "There will be no need for me to experience it. I don't plan on doing as such for many years to come. Plus, one life is more than enough to satisfy me," Zamzu sighed. "Aren't you fearful? Fearful of your inevitable death? I'd much rather see you die in tears than in pride!" Valus yelled as he raised his fist. "I'm not afraid of death and I'm not afraid of you because I know I shall not die here today," Zamzu explained as he pulled a slight grin. "How can you be so sure of that?" Valus asked. "Because I have him," Zamzu immediately replied. "Him?" Valus asked before he was suddenly hit by a piercing beam of energy from behind which launched him forward. Zamzu quickly followed up, blasting Valus back with a small sphere of energy.

Valus turned around as he saw Rycu stood there once more, "Again? I can't believe you have the wits to face me after your last fall." Everyone was shocked to see Rycu stood there, he seemed calmer and more content as he walked forwards slowly, "That's the trouble with Dragon Slayers. They're hard to well and truly put down. Trust me...I know well." Everyone stared at Rycu who had his fists wrapped in flames, "Lets end this at last!" All five of them launched forward together as the others kept up with the creatures as they began to flood out faster. "They're not good at holding back are they?" Minerva sighed as she spiralled around and destroyed all the monsters around her in a single swipe.

Zamzu landed on the floor and placed his hand down and shot out a blast of energy which completely cleansed the floor from the fog and destroyed all the vines that were lurking there. Gray created several platforms around Valus as they all jumped from one to another except Rycu who floated in the air on his own as he blasted fire out his feet. "Sting! Rogue!" Rycu yelled as they both jumped to him, one grabbing each of his hands and aiming their other at Valus. "Shoot all your energy at once!" Rycu yelled as he roared out a beam mixed with both the light and dark Dragon Slayer elements merged into one. Sting and Rogue both let out a roar of their element too as they shot out spheres of energy at Rycu's beam to strengthen it. Valus let out another roar of pain as he was hit by the beam which massively blasted him backwards and kept on pushing as they continued the beam. "Enough!" Valus yelled as he stopped the beam with one hand and charged forward at them all. They didn't have time to react as they were all suddenly smashed into the floor. Valus raised his foot to stomp on them all as Gray jumped in its path and surrounded them with a shield of ice that instantly started cracking from the force of his foot. "Ice Geyser!" Gray yelled as a tower of ice impaled straight into Valus' foot and through to the other side. He yelled in pain as he stumbled backwards towards Zamzu who knowingly had his hands glowing ready.

Zamzu punched both his fists into the floor which created a grand golden beam around Valus that acted like a container. Valus continued to yell in pain from the beam as it was burning his skin and causing severe irritation. "This should keep him briefly contained," Zamzu thought as he leaped away. Gray, Rycu, Sting and Rogue all backed away and returned to higher ground as they saw what was happening. "We all know what's gonna happen next don't we," Rogue sighed. Everyone else nodded their heads as they shielded themselves slightly.

Valus let out a deafening roar that could be heard far and wide. Echoing in everyone's heads for a while. Valus suddenly smashed out of the container he was in as he stomped forward, looking furious, "Who would have thought such people would drive me to this extent!" Valus stomped his foot once more as the entire ground everywhere became covered in a dark layer. Everyone leaped into the air simultaneously as they looked down at the foggy floor and as all the vines twirled out of the ground again though there were plenty more now. Rycu felt as he was grabbed by the leg by one and dragged down to the ground where many more were rushing for him. He lit each limb on fire and spiralled around to knock them all away but wasn't prepared as he was blasted up into the air by another which also tightly wrapped around him. Rycu tried to burn the vine but he was unable to, never mind forcing his way out. Gray was approached by two as he created a blade much of ice and threw it towards the vine that had Rycu, The blade shattered as soon as it made contact with the ice and Gray had each limb wrapped around by a vine. Zamzu kept managing to dodge the incoming vines as he rushed to try and help Rycu but was suddenly surrounded by a dome of vines that slowly began to close in on him. Sting and Rogue were back-to-back, trying to defend each other but were surrounded and were wrapped together. The others were already under lots of pressure so hardly any vines stretched over to them but none of them managed to catch anybody.

The vine carrying Rycu brought him over face-to-face with Valus as he was struggling to break free. "These vines are linked to my magic energy, I can make them as powerful as I wish to keep you still while they also drain your magic energy so there's no breaking out of them," Valus explained to Rycu as everyone began to look weaker. "Coward," Rycu muttered as he still struggled. "Me a coward? I am a proud Dreg fighting for my own! Not even you with all your allies have managed to stop me! You have been trying to act like the hero! You clearly don't know your own place in this world but it doesn't belong here. You are VERMIN and vermin don't belong in this world! Not before me!" Valus explained as the vine closed tighter on Rycu and made it harder for him to breath. "No!" Rycu yelled as he managed to break free of the vine but was immediately smashed down to the ground by Valus' fists and he was again wrapped in vines but smaller ones this time. One on each arm and leg and one around his neck. "Perish now!" Valus yelled as he stomped on Rycu which caused the vines to suddenly start pulling Rycu underground. Rycu shook his head again as his full body ignited with flames and he blasted into the air but was then smashed with a fist to the side which hit him far away so that he wasn't visible. Everyone looked on in worry as they were growing weaker.

Rycu smashed against a stone wall as he hit the floor with hardly any motion left in him. He could hardly even move though he still had a good portion of his energy left, "It's...useless..." Rycu looked around as he leaned up against the stone wall briefly. "Valus is too strong...he could throw away most of his power and still wipe the floor with us. There's no hope any more, only death waiting at his doorstep to collect our souls. Is this how I go down? No dignity. No pride. No honour. Just...weak...and afraid," Rycu thought as he pulled himself up slowly and used the wall to help walk himself along. "I'd love to tell myself no but I can't, the future's practically set in stone for us, or at the least for me. What a lovely story ending for me. Fits how everything should have been. I can't write my own future here. Its already been set...it's already over. I can just imagine it already, 'The Miserable Tale of Rycu'," he continued to think as he slightly chuckled to himself and looked up to the sky, "I wish things could be different but the future's already calling me. The stars across the galaxy, screaming my name as they birth a new sun. Oh why couldn't there be stars? Stars to over watch the day I die. My last breaths...my last moments as everything flashes before my eyes. Its time for the grim future to become history." Rycu slowly stumbled forward but stopped himself as he heard a voice from behind, "Rycu!" He slowly turned his head around as he saw Erza rushing towards him, "Erza?"

Erza latched onto Rycu with a giant hug, "Thank goodness your safe Rycu. I'm sorry I must have worried you so much." "Erza, run..." Rycu muttered as he gently pushed her away. "Run?" She responded confused. "I don't want you near Valus. This is a losing battle and I don't want you dead," Rycu explained as he began to keep walking. "No! I'm not letting you keep fighting on your own! I know you're gonna make everyone flee!" Erza exclaimed as she latched onto him again. "I'm not fighting," Rycu whispered. "Then what are you going to do?" Erza asked confused. "Valus mainly want me dead, that's been one of his main intentions from the beginning. I'm going to get everyone out of there by using my life as a bargain," Rycu explained. "No! I'm not going to let you do that!" Erza yelled as she gripped Rycu even more tightly. "It's the only way to save you all so I'll happily take that sacrifice. You don't need me, you're a capable women yourself. I'm sorry but it's you over me right now. I can't bring myself to let you all die. It's impossible for everyone to escape alive like this!" Rycu explained. "You don't have to sacrifice yourself! We can still get through this together!" Erza explained as she slowly broke to tears in worry. Rycu went silent as Erza continued, "I don't care how great of a threat this is! We together can still stop this! I'm not letting you die today! Not like this! Even in the darkest hours...there's always a shed of light waiting to spark..." Rycu kept silent a moment longer as he thought deeply about it, "She's...right. There's no way sacrificing myself would work anyway. Valus would never stop here...he wants to go further. Beyond Fiore...beyond the continent! He wants complete domination of everything and if I don't stop him here. His power will expand across the stars." Rycu pulled a slight grin as he placed one of his hands on Erza's head and pushed her tight towards him to hug her, "I'm...sorry. I just don't want to see you dead." "And I don't want to see you dead too!" Erza exclaimed as she hugged tighter.

Rycu stood there a while as he desperately tried to think of something. As they hugged tight, Rycu could feel something strange as his magic energy felt like it was getting stronger. He suddenly had a great idea as he yelled, "I know!" Erza looked on in shock, "What?" "I know how we can do this!" Rycu exclaimed in pride as he grabbed Erza's hand and sprinted forth with her so that they had a view of Valus. "Well what are we gonna do!?" Erza asked in panic as she noticed how Valus had changed. Rycu pulled a smug grin, "A Unison Raid!" Erza was in shock, "I don't know if we can even do that!" "Only one way to find out ain't there? This is the only shot we got so we can't waste it!" Rycu exclaimed. "Well what do we do first?" Erza asked nervously. "We won't have enough time to perform the Unison Raid and save everyone so we need to try and free them all then when we finally have the chance we'll perform it," Rycu explained. Erza simply nodded her head as she changed to her Ataraxia Armour. Eight swords materialised out of no where, four on her left and four on her right.

"Hey Valus!" Erza yelled to draw his attention. Valus stared over and saw the two of them standing there as he began to walk closer, "What on Earth!?" Rycu had a grin on his face as he blasted forwards to where the vines surrounding Zamzu in a sphere were. "Your relentlessness really does get quite annoying. Any more and I might just have to kill you all in one clean blow!" Valus yelled as he charged at Rycu himself while also shooting out vines aimed at him. "But every time I have another trick up my sleeve!" Rycu chuckled as he vanished before Valus' eyes. Rycu suddenly appeared around the sphere of vines which was getting close to crushing Zamzu. He raised both his fists and slammed them against the vines which briefly made a gap in the sphere that he jammed his hands into and began to pull the sphere open with a grin on his face as he saw Zamzu's relieved look before he leaped out and forced him and Rycu out of the way of the incoming Valus. The two of them landed and immediately leaped off of the floor, "I need your help," Rycu quickly stated. "Hm? What now?" Zamzu asked in wonder. "I need you to give me all the magic energy you can. I have one last trick up my sleeve but I need all the energy I can get," Rycu desperately explained. Zamzu chuckled, "Full of surprises aren't you? Well...I have faith in you," he said as he passed on the majority of his energy but left about a fifth of his own.

During this, Erza had rushed to help Gray who was unable to move because of the vines that were wrapped around each of his limbs and tried to force them the opposite way. "Gray!" Erza yelled as she was slicing through endless amounts of vines with her swords without even looking as them. A massive wall of vines suddenly blasted out of the ground and tried to grab her too but she instantly sliced them all together at their bases as she used her telekinesis to blast four blades forward that cut off one of the vines attached to Gray each. As she went past, Erza quickly picked up Gray and leaped up to a safe spot on top of a giant pillar. "Thanks for saving me," Gray sighed. "Don't worry about it, just know that you owe me one now," Erza chuckled as she already saw Rycu rushing over to save Sting and Rogue himself. "What are we gonna do now? We're still outmatched together." Gray asked. "Rycu has a plan. I'm going to perform a Unison Raid with him and give it our all in one last attack to try and end Valus. If this doesn't work...I don't know what can." Gray nodded his head as he grabbed Erza's wrist, "Just don't do anything that'll get you killed." Erza gave a slight smile, "I promise I won't."

Rycu was rushing to Sting and Rogue who were being squashed together. "Hey Rycu! Could do with some help now!" Sting wheezed. Rogue was trying to turn into his shadow but he was for some reason unable to when he tried. Rycu leaped around, dodging vines as he ran along the stone cliff wall and charged a ball of fire in his hand, "Heads up!" Rycu threw the sphere directly at the vine which exploded against it and cause it to start burning. Sting and Rogue pushed off of one another again as they caused the weakened vine to break into two. The three didn't even have time to talk as Rycu immediately leaped towards Erza before grabbing her and leaping to a high point on top of a cliff. "It's time then?" Erza asked nervously. Rycu nodded his head.

Rycu and Erza held both there hands together as they aimed themselves towards Valus and both yelled, "Valus!" "And what impossible thing could that be!?" Valus yelled as he stared on unguarded. Rycu and Erza began to fuse their energies as a giant sword began to materialise in front of them both that radiated with many different elements. "Remember, this is our only chance, put as much energy into this as you possibly can!" Rycu exclaimed as the sword fully materialised and was coated in hundreds of combinations of elements. "Rycu..." Erza whispered. Rycu glanced over. "Just whatever happens to us if this doesn't work...remember that I love you..." Erza said softly. Rycu pulled a small smile, "Love you too sis." They nodded their heads at one another as they both yelled out, "Bane of the Darkness: Final Slash!" The giant sword blasted forward as it created a giant blast of wind that nearly forced Rycu and Erza to fall over.

Valus stared at the approaching blade and held his clawed hands forward. The blade had so much speed that what happened next was instantaneous. The blade cut straight through both of Valus' hands in a swift motion as he had tried to guard before immediately piercing into Valus' chest and stopping. Valus immediately let out a roar of pain as all the vines weakened and the creatures stopped coming, letting everyone escape as they saw Valus in pain. All the elements from the blade released into his body all at once. Fire, iron, wind, light, dark, lightning...it was too much for him to handle. All his acidic blood flooded out as his body began to swell with too much energy that his body was trying to react against. Rycu stared in shock as he realised what was going to happen next. He jolted forward with fire boosting out his feet towards Valus, "Everyone take cover!" Everyone shielded themselves as Rycu grabbed onto Valus and prepared to teleport himself with him. "RYCU!" Erza yelled as she realised what he was doing. Rycu slightly looked back with a grin on his face as he teleported himself far, far away from where they were. Far enough to save everyone from the explosion...but him.

Rycu realised he didn't have enough time to teleport himself back as he braced himself for whatever came next. Valus' skin changed to a completely golden colour as he yelled his distorted words, " _ **CURSE YOU RYCU!**_ _ **I WAS PERFECT! THE PERFECT MONSTER TO END YOU SCUM!**_ " Rycu had a slight grin on his face as the energy around grew stronger, "Goodbye valus!" " _ **YOUR DAY WILL COME DRAGON SLAYER! I'LL WATCH YOUR ROTTEN SOUL TEAR APART...T-EAR A-A-APART...T-**_ _ **E-A-R...A-P-A-R-T!**_ " There was a gigantic explosion that flung Rycu back on its own and all of Valus' acidic blood spread out in many directions, hitting Rycu too. It once again rained with the blood but this time the was nothing. No shaking ground. No loud words. Just silence. Rycu laid there, passed out as all the acidic blood flowed off of him and was covered up slightly by the snow. Erza had seen the blast and immediately began to rush over in complete panic as did a few others that were further behind. "Rycu!" Erza exclaimed once more as she saw his still body. She scooped one arm under him and one under his head as tears rushed down her face with her words stuttering, "R-rycu! R-r-rycu! Show me you're still with me show me that you're alive! Please!" There was no response though. Erza's tears flooded down her face in worry as she held Rycu tightly to keep his body warm.

All the way up above though. A figure watched what was happening with a satisfied look on their face as they turned around and began to make their leave.

"Well done Rycu. You've met my expectations once again..."


	125. Remembrance

"Help!" Erza yelled as she heard approaching steps and her salty tears still freshly flowed down her face with some dropping onto Rycu. Suddenly, Gray, Sting, Minerva and Zamzu all came running as they all saw Erza sat there in tears. "What happened?" Gray asked in panic. Erza dragged Rycu's body out to the side a bit so they could clearly see him. He wasn't cut much, just mainly bruised up and dirty. Zamzu quickly went onto his right knee in front of Erza as he examined Rycu's body and noticed the marks from where he had been hit by the acidic blood, "Quickly! Take him back to your guild hall! I'll send my top healing mage to help him out considering Wendy is knocked out anyway."

"I'll take him," Gray offered as he grabbed Rycu's body while Erza let him go. Gray hated to see her so upset but remembered what his main focus was as he rushed away as fast as he could. Minerva moved to Erza and helped her up as Erza put one of her arms around her and Minerva placed her left hand on Erza's hip, "Are you ok?" Minerva asked. "Yeah, I'm fine at least. I'm just mainly worried about Rycu," Erza responded as she seemed more upset and quiet. Zamzu could tell by her facial expression alone how sad she seemed as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Look, it'll all end just fine. There's no need to worry, we have full control over this situation." Erza seemed a bit doubtful as she slowly nodded her head and looked up to the sky as everything seemed more cheerful again.

Rogue had been looking on the entire time as Sting leaped up towards him. "How do you think we stand against Rycu then?" Rogue asked. "I think it'll be a victory even if we take him on individually. As long as we utilise Dragon's Symphony, he's done for indefinitely and I'll be the one to take him out," Sting explained as he looked at his glowing hands. "I see...so even the greatest may not withstand our power. But my focus is on Gajeel anyway," Rogue sighed. "Of course it is," Sting sighed as he looked at Valus' withering pieces, "I think Rycu wasn't going all out even then though. He was desperate but he was seemingly holding back so I'd beware of that strength." "No matter what, I'll make sure we claim this Grand Magic Games victory as ours," Rogue grinned. Sting nodded his head with confidence as he then suddenly began to feel a rise in energy.

Everyone's head flicked to a bright light that suddenly appeared and created huge forces of winds as it began to get darker and take in energy from thin air. "What the hell is that?" Minerva asked as she shielded her eyes from the light as everyone else did. "Valus said he could only resurrect once so what could this be?" Rogue asked. "I don't know either, for all we know Valus could have lied about his lives!" Sting exclaimed. The bright light suddenly vanished as the wind stopped and something else was left in its place. Everyone stopped shielding their eyes as they looked on. What was left was a pure black flame that just floated there slowly in the air. It wasn't reacting with anything or destroying anything, it did nothing.

Zamzu slowly approached it as he placed a hand close to it and felt its pure, dark energy. "Well?" Minerva impatiently said. "If my theory is correct...I would say this is what's left of Valus...the one indestructible thing. This, is the soul of a Dreg," Zamzu explained. "A soul!?" Sting yelled in shock as he gazed upon it in awe. "Yes, I can feel so many incredible energies flowing through it. The sheer amount of power in this alone is...quite frightening. I have no doubt that this can be fused into another mage's energy but it is not safe. For all we know this could turn you into one of them," Zamzu explained. "We all know who's thirsting for that power don't we?" Minerva said anxiously. "It's more than what you think I guarantee. Zeref seems to be interested in some power possibly even beyond this for all we know so I have no doubt if he found this, he would go after this to make his job a lot easier. Acnologia is always growing stronger and stronger so I wouldn't have a doubt that he too would go after a power such as this. This could make him unstoppable. And lastly..." Zamzu explained. "Rycu," Erza interrupted. Everyone but Zamzu turned in shock, "Why would he?" Minerva asked. "Rycu's desperate to stop both Acnologia and Zeref so I believe if he found out about this...he'd do anything to get a hold of it. When he sets his eyes on something he will go whatever lengths it takes to get what he wants...even if that would mean going through us I'd think. This power could be the tipping point for him. A strong Rycu to stop Zeref and Acnologia is what we need. But not this way...otherwise he'll turn against us eventually," Erza explained. "But truthfully, this may be our only ticket to stop them. For all we know, they could be charging an army towards us in a few months and annihilate us all! We don't have enough time to match up to them before a time like that comes. But if that thing is as strong as it shows, this may be our chance to finally match up to their strength and take them down for good!" Minerva exclaimed. Zamzu stayed silent as Sting and Rogue looked on. "Remember, Acnologia is a tough guy but there's only one of him and there's many of us. As long as we co-ordinate some sort of plan with us all, I think we could widdle him down to nothing," Rogue explained as he finally broke his silence. "He'll just take us out one-by-one," Minerva answered back through gritted teeth, "Rycu's strength may be enough. Topped with his Dragon Force and anger to push him on...he may be our unstoppable force. Erza then gritted her teeth as she was agitated, "You've NEVER seen Rycu's wrath. And you would never want to. When Rycu's overtaken by anger, little can stop him...he can't just calm down in an instance. His anger can drive him on to do unspeakable things as far as I know and even I haven't seen the full extent of that anger. Trust me when I say the fury he showed today, will not be his most extravagant. I guarantee there's much worse he's shown and will show to us. Believe me then when I say this. Rycu, must never learn of this soul. And no matter what, it must never fall into his hands." There was a silence as Minerva went quiet. "I see," Zamzu whispered as he created some sort of energy field around the soul to contain it, "I say it would be best for you now to return to the other, I shall return with you once I take care of this."

Everyone promptly left as Zamzu was left with the soul for a little while, examining it intently and noting many things mentally he managed to deduce. Finally, he slowly reached his hesitant hand out to the sphere he created. Slowly, he moved forwards as he felt the energy grow stronger, like a constant force trying to keep all contact away. With a jolted movement he managed to grasp the sphere as Zamzu was suddenly struck by a wave of energy when he connect his hands. He let out a slight wince of pain as he felt something strange flow through him and let go of the sphere instinctively, "What was that? I feel...strange..." Zamzu looked at his hands and his veins were a different colour and he felt slightly sick like he was infected with a bug. "Ugh whatever it is, it doesn't matter it shouldn't be much of a hassle," Zamzu thought as he continued on and the feeling got worse but he ignored it as he traversed back to the council.

Rycu's eyes slowly crept open as the little light that was coming into the room blinded him until his eyes managed to adjust. He took slow, steady breaths as his body began to activate more and lean up. Erza was asleep with her head resting at the bottom of the bed and Natsu rested on the bed beside as Lucy rested next to it. There was nobody else there surprisingly, nobody from either Sabretooth or Lamia Scale was in the room and others such as Gray and Gajeel were most likely already snoring their heads off in their own home. "Already so late? Either everyone's exhausted or I've just been out for a long time," Rycu thought to himself as he dragged himself out of the bed and walked to the centre of the room where he stared out the massive glass window to the full moon that glared back at him. Rycu looked at his skin and saw that it was perfectly fine despite the fact that he had full contact with Valus' acidic blood. He glanced to Natsu who looked better than what he was but was still in awful condition as his skin was discoloured slightly and he had hundreds of spots and blisters covering his body, "I must of protected myself from the poison somehow...or my body somehow managed to resist its effects. Guess it doesn't matter now I should just move on."

Rycu stumbled into the guild hall where he heard some noise coming from upstairs and saw a slight light that he began to stumble towards. His whole body ached more and more every step he took as he dragged himself up the stairs and along the rail till he landed outside the door. He pushed through the door as the light blinded him again briefly before his vision returned to normal and he saw Makarov sat down, facing out the window. "So you've awoken?" Makarov asked as he heard him enter. Rycu stepped forward slightly as he took another deep breath, "I have." "If I'm honest, I'm surprised you pulled through that alive. The odds were certainly against you then weren't they? Though you were your usual self I guess and managed to pull through. You really are something else," Makarov laughed to himself. "You know how I am by now, that...Dreg would never be enough to stop me after what he did to Erza. He had it coming anyway, the big old thing couldn't have held in forever," Rycu explained. "I don't believe it was as easy as you make it sound," Makarov explained. Rycu took a deep sigh as he walked forth to the giant window staring outside, "Of course not. As time goes on it feels as my body gets weaker...each fight is getting tougher and I don't know how long I can hold on. I can force myself to fight on and all but in my state...that won't work forever. Eventually...I'll give in." Makarov glanced at Rycu's defeated looking face, "You are a strong, fierce warrior Rycu and very little rivals that. I know you're body is getting weaker but you can fix that. All you need is time to rest up and train your endurance further. I won't let you die Rycu...as with everyone else and especially Natsu, you're my children, and no father would want to watch his child die." Rycu went silent as he leaned against the wall and relaxed before speaking again, "I understand. Just remember though you old fool, take care of yourself too." "I will," Makarov chuckled slightly as Rycu slowly moved for the door, "where do you think you're going now?" "I'm going home, missed chilling in my tiny home properly before we had so many conundrums. Plus, I wouldn't mind getting as much information as I can as to the state of everything. As far as I know from looking out, nobody is moving back in for a short while and everything's being repaired that was damaged. When the time comes I'll be helping people out," Rycu explained as he turned around slightly. "I know you will Rycu, you're a kind soul deep down...don't try and cover that up. Don't try and show yourself as cold but be more expressive and show your kinder side more. Sure, you can be cold to enemies but don't let that leak into who you really are," Makarov explained. Rycu continued to the door with a grin on his face, "Night Makarov."

Rycu looked out to the rest of the dark guild hall as he let out a deep sigh, "I need to find Eileen...I heard nothing about her from before or after the Valus conundrum so I need to know she's safe." Before he even started moving though, he heard a whisper from behind as they grabbed him by the arm, "Hey, Rycu! What are you doing?" Rycu glanced slightly to see Mira standing there looking concerned. Rycu let out a sigh, "Nothing, just go back to sleep Mira I'm just wanting to find someone." "And who might that be?" Mira asked as she leaned closer with her curiosity brimming. "Eileen...I haven't seen her for a bit so I just want to make sure she's ok," Rycu sighed again as he began to walk to the stairs. Mira grabbed him by the arm, "I'll help you then!" "You don't need to...it's just my mother I'm sure it won't be hard to catch her scent," Rycu explained. "But I want to help! Besides, last time you was out on your own it didn't end well for you did it?" Mira continued. Rycu had an anxious look as he tried to think of how to stop her, "W-well...uh...Makarov wanted you! I just spoke to him! He said it was vital!" Mira pulled a sudden look of worry, "You should have told me before! Stay there I'll be back!" Rycu stared in amazement as she ran off and immediately made a brisk exit out the main door, "I'm surprise that worked."

Rycu made it outside as he was immediately hit by the strong winds that tried to force him back but to no avail. "Firstly, I gotta try and pick up her scent," Rycu thought to himself as he dived forward through the winds that were giving it their all to hold him back. He kept rushing forward trying to find something or pick up a scent but there was nothing at all that resembled Eileen. All there was, was whiffs of food and other people that had trod along the path recently, "So many scents but not a single one is her. With such a dense amount of scents it's even overwhelming slightly with how much it fills my nostrils." Soon, he finally managed to pick up something, a scent that seemed familiar but not at the same time, "What's this?" Rycu thought as he began to follow the scent which lead him deeper into the heart of the city, "I don't get it...it feels like I've had this scent before but I can't remember it, and I never forget a scent." Eventually, Rycu found himself in the heart of the city but nobody was in sight. No energy, no continuation of the scent...nothing, "I-I don't get it! A scent can't just disappear like that can it? There has to be something, someone!" Rycu rushed around the small vicinity and tried to find something but he couldn't, the scent had vanished.

Rycu had his head in his hands in frustration as everything went quiet, the wind stopped and the snow halted. He felt it as he looked up again and felt an immense energy coming his way. He flicked his head to the side as the energy grew stronger and he wrapped his fists in fire as he realised this couldn't be something good. "My, my Rycu...it has been a fair bit it would seem since we last entangled," The voice chuckled as the person appeared. Rycu's eyes went bloodshot as he got a clear view, "Zeref!?" Zeref chuckled again, "Not so pleased to see me are you? I would have hoped for some more enthusiasm. I guess time hasn't flowed the same in your mind as you've spent a hefty amount of it unconscious haven't you?" "Why the hell are you here and where the hell is Eileen!?" Rycu demanded as he resisted the urge to fling forth. Zeref sighed, "Not playful today are we? Well, I have done nothing to your precious mother...she may be on the bright side now but that doesn't mean I'll be hunting her down...yet." Rycu had an even greater urge but again resisted as he stomped a single foot forth, "I swear on my grave Zeref...if you harm Eileen then I'll spend the rest of my days destroying you and saving everyone from your devious schemes whatever they may be." "I can sense you've grown stronger Rycu but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that you could ever beat me...or even that I could truly beat you," Zeref explained. "Well, what friends have you brought this time for me to obliterate then?" Rycu asked. "I am here alone, all I have in my possession is...an army," Zeref grinned as Rycu was in shock for a second. "A-an army? What for?" Rycu asked. "To fight you. Though, no blood must be shed as long as you give me...Fairy Heart," Zeref explained. "F-fairy Heart? What the hell are you on about?" Rycu asked seeming completely lost. "Don't you know of Fairy Heart? It's maintained in the heart of the guild. An unimaginable power stored for eternity, waiting for its rightful owner to harness it," Zeref explained. Rycu stomped one foot forward once more as his eyes stared stone cold as everything slowly pieced together in his mind, "What is this power stored in then?" Zeref pulled a devilish grin as darkness excessed off of him more, "It's stored inside no other than...Marvis..."

Rycu was in sudden shock as the piece of the puzzle in his memory fit in at last and he glanced back at the guild slightly, "M-marvis! Marvis has been beneath my feet this whole time and I never knew!? I remember her, her face, her attitude...all of it's coming back now! And she was just under my floor? B-but why's she down there?! Why didn't she leave?!" Zeref's grin widened as he stepped closer with a look of pure insanity, "Makarov never told you about her, none of the story at all did he? She cared so deeply about you as she did about me and I loved her too as you loved her but it had a bitter ending didn't it?" Rycu's eyes squinted as he lit his fists with flames.

"Rycu, don't you remember? _**I...killed...Marvis**_."


End file.
